We’re in that most wonderful time of the year, Advent season, building up to Christmas. Advent by definition means the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. And who is history is more notable than Jesus?

Way before Jesus, a man named Job struggled with the Lord. In fact, the book of Job is considered by many the oldest in the Bible. In a lament before his friends, Job expressed the need for an advent:

He (God) is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

From the very beginning, Job understood God’s holiness and his own shortcomings. He hoped for Jesus before Jesus was ever born. That first Christmas in Bethlehem arrived with the anticipation and desire of faithful people over many years. This hope even moved three kings from a far off land to saddle up their camels and celebrate an advent like no other.

Today the hoped for is now our hope. We enjoy the advent, the arrival, of Job’s deepest longing, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Happy Advent!

Job 9 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2023

Photo by Max Beck