Wednesday, December
12, 2018
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.” And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived. Isaiah 35:3-7(NLT)
Life was upside-down! Isaiah encouraged tired, weary ones who
wanted to be faithful, but sometimes found it hard to hold-on, to believe in the
God who said: Hold on!
Today many
people dismiss Christ based on unbelief – that certainly God (if he exists at
all) must be more complicated than the manger story. Certainly, a God who could create the
universe that has the intricacies of DNA and quantum physics would not have
given the most important announcement of mankind and angels to stupid
shepherds.
But were
they stupid? The shepherds are the ones
who believed God; they went immediately and without question to find the
child. When they arrived, they
worshipped. When they left, they
rejoiced and told others. It seems the
shepherds were the wise and obedient ones.
They remembered their history of exile in Egypt long before, and how Yahweh
was true to his promise, sent Moses, and redeemed them out of captivity:
When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a
dream!
We were filled with laughter, and
we sang for joy. And the other nations
said, “What amazing things the Lord has
done for them.” Yes, the Lord has done amazing
things for us! What joy! Psalm 126:1-3(NLT)
In defense of those who find it
hard to possess joy in their doubt and prison cells, we can all be a little
dumber than shepherds at times. And
sometimes it takes another prisoner to set the tone for us.
"Advent
is a time for rousing. Human beings are
shaken to the very depths, so that they may wake up to the truth of themselves.
The primary condition for a fruitful and
rewarding Advent is renunciation, surrender ... a shattering awakening; that is
the necessary preliminary. Life begins
only when the whole framework is shaken."[3]
For You Today
A few questions we should ask at Advent:
·
Have you ever had your framework shaken?
Have you walked in a dream, as if everything has been turned
upside-down? I wonder if, like the
shepherds, God allows these events to move us to the next level?
·
And what will you do at the next level?
Could it be that God wants us to leave the nightmares of doubt and fear,
to walk out of the familiar and selfish?
Could it be that He wants to see us walking in dreams of worthy choices
and loving attitudes?
·
Could it be that this Advent the still small voice that says, “I want
you to love me above everything” will shake your framework…because you
recognize the voice? And you know…it’s
no dream; He’s your God!
Go to VIDEO
[2] Image courtesy: Graf Foto [CC BY-SA 3.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
[3] © 2009 COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, INC.
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