The Dawning Of Indescribable Joy

 "The dawning of indescribable joy." That's what pastor and author John Piper calls the Advent season. For years, I've found it remarkable that this part of the calendar happens in the darkest time of the year when it feels so metaphoric for the patterns our lives tend to take much of the time. The harshest seasons often lead to the greatest harvests, the deepest joys. The biggest losses often make way for other gifts and blessings down the road. The coldest soul-winters are predecessors to the coming Spring. 

In some form or another, be it in weather or in spirit, we are waiting for the dawn. We are looking and hoping for sunrise, especially in times of great suffering. It's what keeps us going. It's what gives what we're walking through some element of meaning. The dawn signifies light and renewal and possibility. Particularly when so much has felt devoid of purpose or has been seemingly irreparably destroyed, the concept of morning anchors us to something certain and dependable. The sun will rise again, we tell ourselves. 

As we endure a long night of the soul, one thing that is unmistakably tied to it is the idea of waiting. God makes us hold out for things. Like a good parent, He doesn't answer prayers or give us exactly what we hope for or want right when we request it. Because He knows that the patience that we will acquire as we wait will be good for us. He sees the bigger picture and will only bring about the dawn when He feels the darkness has accomplished its full intent. Relief only appears when God deems it satisfactorily finished. 

"It is finished," Jesus cried out on the cross. Finished because the Father's wrath had been satisfied. Finished because His purpose on earth had been fulfilled. Finished because the hundreds of years of Messianic prophecy had been accomplished. Finished because now the journey to resurrection could begin. What started in a manger had ended at the cross and He had drank the bitter cup to completion He had been given. 

This countdown to the celebration of Christmas must first pass through the dark waiting of Advent. Our path to the fulfillment of that "indescribable joy" that Christ's birth, death, and resurrection offers us takes us through the harsh storms of heartache and the sufferings of life. The flowers of our Springtime cannot come into bloom unless they have sat in the dormancy of Winter's chilling frost and snow. This is an inescapable cycle that we must learn to lean into if we are to understand and appreciate the sunrise on the other side of all our trials. 

Anticipation is the precursor to rejoicing. The waiting is necessary in order to welcome in the approaching morn. It's what Jesus meant when He said that we have sorrow now but after, we will rejoice (John 16:22). Even the wait for eternity with Him is worth our patience. Anything that involves His plan is worth our wait. And so we enter this season with expectancy, even, perhaps, in the face of the greatest darkness we ever walked through. We look for glimpses of light that will indicate we have passed through our greatest night...and survived. But until then, we sit in the uncertainty and we cling to the presence of a God who will always bring His promises to pass... a God who will initiate the dawn when the time is right.