Great Joy in the Waiting

Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. I love the lights, the music, the traditions, the time with family, all of it. But beneath the surface of everything we enjoy this season is something deeper, something ancient, something that matters far beyond December. Christmas is about joy.

In Luke 1, we meet a couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were faithful, godly people, “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” And yet their lives didn’t look blessed. They didn’t have children, and by the time we meet them, they were long past the age of ever expecting that to change. They had likely prayed for years, maybe decades, for a son. They had probably cried together. They had probably wondered if something was wrong with them. They had waited … and nothing happened.

That is often where real joy begins—in the waiting.

The story takes a remarkable turn when Zechariah’s name is drawn to enter the Temple and burn incense before the Lord. That moment was the highest honor of a priest’s life. Many never got the chance. But on that day, God broke a 400-year silence, sent an angel right into that sacred space, and spoke the words Zechariah had longed to hear: “Your prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13).

Those words breathe hope into every one of us.

Most of us know what it’s like to wait on God. We’ve prayed the same prayer for a long time. We want God to move, to fix something, heal something, change something, and nothing seems to happen. Zechariah and Elizabeth remind us that silence doesn’t mean absence. Delayed answers are not forgotten prayers. God hears. God remembers. And God acts in His time.

But this passage is about more than one couple receiving a miracle. This is the moment when the story of God breaks open in an entirely new way. The angel says their son, John, will “go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah” to prepare people for the coming Messiah (Luke 1:17). In other words, the wait is over. God is moving. Joy is coming.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “All joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still about to be.” What a picture of Advent. Joy is a reminder, a whisper that something better is coming. Happiness depends on circumstances; joy depends on God. Happiness can be taken; joy is rooted in a promise. Happiness is about right now; joy is about what God has done, is doing, and will yet do.

Christmas joy doesn’t ignore pain, confusion, or waiting. It meets us in it. It tells us that God has broken through the silence once before, and He will do it again. It reminds us that Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and one day He will return to make all things new.

If you’re tired of waiting, don’t give up. If your prayers feel unanswered, keep praying. If life feels quiet, remember: God is still working behind the scenes.

Jesus is our joy — not because everything is easy, but because everything is promised. This Christmas, may you remember that joy isn’t found in what happens today, but in a Savior who came once and is coming again.

The wait was worth it then.

It will be worth it now.