Imagine something you’ve waited a long time for. Is it something you ordered online, a special event, or a celebration? Did you ever begin to wonder if your waiting had been pointless? Sometimes it is hard to keep looking forward to something when it seems like it will never come.

The Jews had been waiting for the birth of Jesus for a long time. Isaiah 7:14 says: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah prophesied Jesus’ birth about 700 years before He was born.

Before even Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Jesus, God had already explained His plan to save the world. In Genesis 3:15 God says to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Think about waiting more than 700 years for something. You would either die before it happened, or would be last in a long chain of people who had begun to give up hope. The good news is, God always keeps His promises. We can trust Him to do what He says He will do. Even when things don’t go the way we planned God is still working. Trust that He has a plan, and that His plans never fail.