What if the Lord had
not been on our side? Let all Israel
repeat: What if the Lord had
not been on our side when people attacked us? They would have
swallowed us alive in their burning anger. The waters would have
engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us. Yes, the raging
waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives. Praise
the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart! We
escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.
The trap is broken, and we are free! Our help is from
the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 124:1-8
I think Advent is my kind of season. As an introspective sort, I naturally turn
towards the inner self, thinking, evaluating, wondering, and (too-often) overthinking! But, it is what it is; we are hardwired one
way or another.
As much trouble as I can get into by keeping my mouth
closed, and mind working, and, therefore open to criticism of being moody, or
uncaring, I do sense I stay out of trouble more that way than the other. Two sayings come to mind:
1. Open mouth, insert foot…and
2. Better to keep mouth closed and be thought a fool, than
to open mouth and remove all doubt.
Advent was built with the thinker in mind. To relfect is to consider deeply about what
you’re doing, or what happened, or, perhaps most importantly, what’s coming. In the Christian life, there is no larger
consideration upon which to reflect than that last one…what’s coming is Jesus!
The “thinker” of Psalm 124 does all three:
He looks back: What if the Lord had not been on our
side? The result of life in Jerusalem, Judea,
and Samaria would’ve been a catastrophe.
The blood would have run neck-deep to a horse for miles.
He looks at what he does now in
light of what happened: The trap is
broken, and we are free! Freedom carries
responsibility; the Psalmist doesn’t want to waste this gift of opportunity to reflect
positively on God’s great kindness.
He looks very deeply at what’s
coming: Our help is from
the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
To consider every last nook and cranny of creation takes a long
time. Somehow, the sober moment of escaping
the tragedy of an enemy attack, has driven this thoughtful one to remember not
only where he (and all Israel) would be without God’s divine favor and grace, but
resolve to trust in no other strength, save the lovingkindness of JHWH, Jehovah-Jirah,
the God who is I Am.
For You Today
There is enough emotion at this time of year. Hallmark sees to that detail. For believers, it is a time to think,
carefully, deeply, and with the very-pointed purpose of engaging where we’ve
been, what we’re doing, and what’s coming.
Advent is the stuff of life time. What hangs in the balance for you and me is
to either being engulfed by this world’s system, or released like a bird from a
cage. Prison of sin, or release to the
Kingdom. That’s Advent; that’s today!
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic, explore some of these:
Images: Title Pixabay.com Images without citation are either personal
property of the author, or in public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted
from The New Living Translation©
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