Waiting comes in all sizes and packages. I recall the absolute torment of waiting to open the tantalizing gifts under the tree as a child. And the long anticipation of the coming Christmas holidays as the countdown ticked by ever so slowly each day. While I might be an adult who has a greater capacity for patience, I still struggle when things take longer than I’d like.
The truth is waiting is simply part and parcel of living. We wait in lines and traffic jams, for news and diagnoses. We wait for babies and spouses, for prodigals to return and marriages to mend. We wait for healing…and heaven.
But that doesn’t make us good at it – especially when waiting unfurls beyond our ability to see, when waiting feels like an extended-stay, a wilderness season. At our best we waver in the wondering – Why is this taking so long? Where is God when I need Him? At our worst, we wander – believing God’s hiddenness is a sign that He has abandoned us, given up. Darkness descends, the expanse of our wilderness overwhelms, and our unfocused eyes flood with countless tears of despair.
Overcoming the temptation to hide, we wipe our eyes and realize with a bit of shock the year is nearly over – it’s December! It’s Advent, the season of set-aside anticipation for what’s to come. A month of waiting, and a time to name where we are in all our wilderness woes – to look for what God is trying to reveal to us in it all.
The Hand of God Is Hiddenness
About this time last year, I listened to an interview of a musician, Jon Guerra, on Amanda Held Opelt’s podcast.1 To my surprise they talked at some length about one of his songs, simply entitled, “Nazareth.” When Jon described the name of the painting that had inspired his song, “Hidden Life in Nazareth,” my curiosity was piqued. I immediately listened to the song, found a picture of the inspirational icon, and dreamed of creating an Advent series around the whole concept.
And here we are, a year later!
Nazareth is well-known today because it’s Jesus’ hometown. But in His day, it was as small and backwater as it got. Maybe a one-hundred-fifty-person village, Nazareth easily got lost in the shadows of other Galilean cities like Tiberias and Capernaum. But to Jews of Judea, Galilee as a whole was less-than, mediocre, not up to snuff. They were thought to be less devoted in their rituals, lazy in their dialect of the Aramaic language, and located too closely to pagan influences.2
If all Galileans were viewed as the “country cousins” of their Judean Jewish relatives, then Nazarenes were the hillbillies of the lot.2 Hence the common epithet, as spoken by Nathaniel just before meeting Jesus, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46).
Of course, the irony is that, indeed, the good Messiah Himself hailed from Nazareth. But, if we lean into the reality of first century Nazareth, we recognize it as lowly. Nowhere. Hidden.
The King of Kings never lived in a palace or rode in regal parades or reigned from an earthly throne. Instead, He played in the hills that were hidden from sight. He worked with His hands and lived an ordinary life of obscurity. In other words, Jesus is quite relatable. And Jon’s song identifies many ways that the Messiah’s hometown can represent the dark places we need Him most:
Deep in the heart of Nazareth
A nowhere town of lowliness
The light of life, the light of them
Deep in the heart of Nazareth
I never would have chosen this
The hand of God is hiddenness
Your mother held and witnessed it
The hand of God is hiddenness. Literally, the hand of God hid His Son from the waiting world – for His protection, for His growth, for God’s purposes. God’s hand also hid Himself from His Son – for about thirty-three years. Cloaked in humanity, no longer could the Son of God see His Father face-to-face.
And when God’s hand lifted so that Jesus could be seen by the world for who He was, the first place the Spirit led Him was to the wilderness. Forty days of fasting, testing, and temptation. Hard, long days of waiting. Fending for Himself. Hungry, cold. Alone.
Those forty days in the desert paint a picture for us to model, to find hope in – because God knows that the longer the season of waiting, the less we sense His presence. The longer we walk through the wilderness, the harder it is to see where we’re meant to go.
The hand of God is hiddenness. In the wilderness, it’s easy to forget the truths that God’s hand holds all power, all wisdom, all light because they’re unseen. The darkness that descends around us and in us tempts us to doubt God – His goodness, His love, His purposes, His presence.
Yet, we’re given the choice as to how we navigate our way through shadowy seasons. We can blame God or trust what we know about Him to be true. We can let fear steal faith or believe God’s love will sustain us. We can allow anger to take root as bitterness or cling to the reality that He is working for our good.
Because this is the truth: God is never gone. Sometimes He chooses to be hidden, but in His sovereign, mysterious way, it’s always for our good. When I consider God as my Good Father, I picture in my mind’s eye the heart-rendering nights I allowed my infant to cry himself to sleep. When he couldn’t see me in the room, he feared I was truly gone. Of course I provided many reassurances, but I knew that for his own good, he would need to learn to put himself to sleep and to trust that I would always return for him.
Similarly, our Heavenly Father wants us to learn to trust Him. He desires that we’d have faith in His hand of hiddenness because it’s one of protection, provision, purpose. In that way, God’s very hiddenness can be our hope in the wilderness because it gives us the chance to believe all that His Word has taught us:
- He will never leave or forsake us (Isaiah 41:10)
- He is always for us (Romans 8:31)
- He loves us (John 3:16)
- He will never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13)
- He works all things for good for those who believe Him (Romans 8:28)
- He makes His light shine in our hearts with the light of knowledge (2 Corinthians 4:6)
Even as the Lord’s purposes might keep us from seeing the end of the season we’re in, He affords us light to keep following Him. He does not leave us in the dark. As we lean into these truths, our faith strengthens. And we find our way to keep moving forward, day by day, with trust that God is at work even though we cannot yet see it.
The Light Breaking Through
Though we would never choose to remain in seasons of darkness, we realize they’re to be expected – even the Son of God wasn’t exempt from such humanity-experiences. Long wilderness wanderings are to be endured with faith that the light is coming. We might say they’re meant to be embraced because God in His magnificent wisdom can use every experience, every season of suffering for our good. Nothing – no, not even the darkness of the desert – is wasted when we allow God to work in them.
So, while the hiddenness of God’s hand may make us feel alone in the dark – abandoned, lost, stuck – we can trust that the Light of the World is with us and that one day His light will break through.
In the meantime, our meanderings can be illuminated by the reality that since the first burst of light at Creation, light has been pushing back darkness. The One who spoke light over the darkness in the beginning is still in the business of speaking light into the darkness of our longing and wilderness wandering.
The theme of light-and-dark weaves itself in and out of Scripture, from beginning to end. Matthew pulls in a prophecy of the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah (9:1-2):
“When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:
‘In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,
Matthew 4:12-16 NLT
beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,
in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,
the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light.
And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,
a light has shined.’”
In the darkness of His grief over John, Jesus went home. Back to the boondocks of His hometown. He wandered the literal and figurative wilderness to find His way, deep in the heart of Nazareth. The Light of Life knew darkness. Even from heaven now, He knows the weight we bear, the sadness in the shadows, the longing for darkness to end.
The words of hope that proved true in Isaiah’s day became more fully realized when Jesus walked the earth. And, they are promises that hold true today – the One who descended in order to know our darkness is also the One who is now our Light in every dark valley.3
That’s the good news of Advent. Immanuel. God with us.
Friends, as we journey through wilderness seasons, “when darkness seems to hide His face,” we are given the chance to see for ourselves what God desires to reveal to us (Luke 2:15).4 This is the ‘how’ of Advent – God showing us that He loves us so much that He’d come to earth as one of us. And He did so with such hiddenness that only those who seek Him humbly and sincerely find Him. Seasons of wilderness waiting invite us into such seeking. And finding.
Wherever this Advent season finds you, whatever the state of your heart, know that you are not alone. God is with you – even when the shadows hide Him from your sight. You have been given a Way to move forward in faith because Immanuel is always ready to shine on your path, guiding you through the darkness toward His light.
This Advent season, may the Light of the World break through your darkness.
“Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.
To you we say, ‘Come Lord Jesus!’
Amen.”(Prayer by Henri Nouwen, Advent and Christmas Wisdom, Redemptorist Pastoral Publication, Liguori Publications, 2004).
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – Here’s the podcast episode I mentioned if you’re curious.
- 2 – This Gospel Coalition article gives more details about the differences between Galilean and Judean Jews.
- 3 – From Tim Keller’s book Hidden Christmas^
- 4 – 11/23/24 Wake Up Call, from the podcast comments. JD Walt calls the hymn, “My Hope Is Built” a great wilderness song. He goes on to say that the second verse, “When darkness seems to hide his face,” states the reality of wilderness living. Not if but when. His blood, his covenant, they support us WHEN we’re in the wilderness, not if. WHEN life floods. WHEN our souls give way. When we wonder, “Where are you Lord in this battle that I’m in?” He’s right there with you. Just stand. Stand there on the rock. Pray: Show me your glory, Lord.
- Jon Guerra’s song, “Nazareth,” is the fourth song on our Advent playlist, “Hiddenness.” It’s really different and not intended to be a Christmas song — but I just love the lyrics. And the more I hear the song the more I want to hear it! I haven’t counted, but many songs on our Hiddenness playlist have the theme of light and dark — because Jesus coming to the earth brought light into our darkness. And He’s still doing that each and every day!! It’s my sincere hope that this playlist will bring some light into our Advent season. XOXO
- The Abiding Life newsletter will hit inboxes this week! You can still subscribe here if you’d like to receive it. Thank you for your prayers! I feel like I have had an answer to prayer about moving the newsletter to a different platform, Substack. In fact, I believe God has shown me that also posting these weekly website posts on Substack is another way to reach more people with the features it offers. No worries, I will continue posting the weekly blogs here, as well. It’ll be a both-and. 😉
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike.
- In a season that can be packed with parties and emotions, it’s good to pause and reflect — on Who the season is about, as well as, why we feel the way we do. God longs to meet us in our challenges and celebrations, so we have to be intentional to make room for such reflection.
This week we can be intentional to reflect on what parts of our hearts or minds or souls need His light. It’s healthy to name the dark places and invite Him to shine on in. - And while it’s not a spiritual practice or rhythm, I invite you to share this site. This is such an important topic that I want as many people as possible to join us here. Together we’ll find support and encouragement and the simple truth that we are not alone in our struggles.
Featured Photo by D A V I D S O N L U N A on Unsplash.
^denotes an affiliate link, with which this ministry may earn a bit