My church has been blessed with four baptisms lately, and a fifth one is on the way. Do you know what pastors call new babies in the congregation? JOB SECURITY. It brings us such joy to welcome these precious children into our family! We wait with the mothers as their bellies grow each week, and we celebrate their good news with each arrival.

Having been in that place twice myself, I know that pregnancy-waiting is a unique experience. It is filled with hope, anticipation, fear, pain, dread, and eventually release.

What are you waiting for right now? The final, official end of the pandemic? Getting out of a bad marriage? Finding a new job? The completion of an overwhelming project, college courses, or graduation? Are you waiting to move on with your life?

God is with us in the waiting.

Romans 8 (Common English Bible)

^22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

In this passage, Paul is writing to the church in Rome about their hope that Christ’s return is imminent. Paul reassures them that their waiting through the persecution and rejection they are experiencing will end in full deliverance. Even in the hardest moments, he encourages them to see their waiting as “joyful expectancy.” The Spirit of God is present within them.

Is God encouraging you to see your waiting as joyful expectancy? Do you believe that he is with you?

^26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.

This is such a powerful reminder! When we are wordless in those moments of despair to the point that we don’t even know what to pray, the Holy Spirit prays through our sighs and moans. What a relief! Sometimes the best we can do is fall on our knees in a mute stupor and look to heaven for help…and that is enough.

He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Be assured today that you are not alone in your waiting. God is very involved in your situation. He is present. Know that God is working things out for your good even when you can’t see his activity. He knows what you need even better than you do. So wait on him, and he will deliver you.

Our mothers were right. Good things come to those who wait.