Living in the “Not Yet”- A Devotional Review of the sermon "Waiting on the Promise"

mpenman31
Dec 8, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Sermon text: 2 Samuel 7:18–19

“King David went in and sat before the Lord…” (2 Samuel 7)

Advent is the season of holy waiting. It teaches us to sit in the tension between what God has already done and what God has not yet fully revealed. Like David, we often make plans for God — but Advent reminds us that God is the one who is always at work, building something greater than we can imagine.

David had finally reached a season of rest. The battles had slowed. The enemies were subdued. Jerusalem was his home. From a place of stability and gratitude, David wanted to build a house for God, but God was preparing to bring His Son into the world through David’s line. What David only saw as a promise, we now see fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Yet even now, we still await the full coming of His Kingdom — a world made whole, justice completed, peace restored.

This unexpected word did not send David into panic or planning mode. Instead, the Bible says he went in and sat before the Lord. In the Hebrew, this was not a casual sitting — it was an intentional turning toward God in reverence and surrender. David teaches us that when God redirects our plans, our first response should not be action, but adoration and alignment.

Throughout Scripture, God’s people have always been waiting people. Abraham waited for a land he would never see. Israel waited through slavery and oppression. Mary waited through confusion and uncertainty. Simeon waited in the temple for the Messiah. And now, we too live in the space of the “already” and the “not yet” — where God has spoken, Christ has come, and the fullness of the Kingdom is still unfolding.

David’s humble words, “Who am I, Lord?” were not born of insecurity, but of awe. He remembered he was once a shepherd, overlooked and forgotten. Yet God chose him and spoke promises far beyond his lifetime. What God promised David would not end with him — it would culminate in Jesus, the Son of David, whose Kingdom would have no end.

Advent teaches us to slow down, to sit before the Lord as David did, and to remember: our hope is not in what we build for God, but in what God has promised to complete through Christ. So we must humpbly wait on the promise(s) of God, rooted in Christ, sealed in resurrection, and fulfilled in glory.

So while we wait — through uncertainty, delay, and unanswered questions — we wait with hope. God has already spoken. And His promises never fail.

Reflection Questions

Where in your life might God be “flipping the script” on your plans — and how are you responding?
What does it look like for you, like David, to truly sit before the Lord instead of rushing into action?
Where specifically in your life are you currently feeling the greatest tension between a promise of God you know to be true, and the present reality that seems incomplete or delayed?
The devotional concludes that we wait through "uncertainty, delay, and unanswered questions," yet we wait with hope because "God has already spoken." Name one specific area of uncertainty or delay you are facing right now, and identify a corresponding, unchanging promise from Scripture that allows you to root your waiting in Christ and hope.