Advent and Paradox

(I wrote this while listening - over and over.)
The Piano Guys "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

A sadness permeates me this advent.  I know the reasons – life…sin. But the ache begins to resemble a longing.  And the cello in The Piano Guys “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” cries my longing.

Yes, this is a season of joy.  But waiting for the coming of Christmas, of the coming of Christ, is also a longing time.  2000 years ago they waited for freedom from captivity.  We are not so different, only our captivity is different.  They longed to be free, we long to be free, and so we should.

The kingdom is here and not yet.  Paradox.  Christ came and brought freedom to captives.  The freedom He offered in the flesh 2000 years ago was not what people expected.  Similarly the freedom He offers today is frequently not what we expect or what we plead for.  We live in a world of sin and suffering, with an enemy that seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

For the first time, my observance of advent is more focused on the longing than any of the trappings of Christmas.  We will decorate.  We will celebrate.  But the joy and sorrow of this year, the changes, the stumblings, the growth, are all tangled together leaving me overflowing with paradoxical emotions.

Come, Lord Jesus is a cry and a comfort.  I begin to understand that I’m waiting, not just during advent, but I’m waiting for much longer and for much more than the coming of Christmas. For Christ’s return.  For a new world.  For complete freedom. 

I rejoice that I’m finally grasping part of the bigger picture.  I shouldn’t be too comfortable here because this is not my home.  As I live and work and love and laugh and weep and struggle I SHOULD be longing.  For the first time I don’t just sing the words, but I FEEL the words.  Come, please come, Emmanuel.  God with us.

Light in the Darkness

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”  Isaiah 9:2

I always hated in school when we were asked to describe the theme of a book or a poem.  I love to read, but I’m just not good at seeing themes and symbols.  However, Isaiah is making some obvious to me, light and darkness being one of them.

The word used here for darkness means literal darkness, but can also mean misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorry or wickedness. The root word it is taken from means to darken as in withholding light.  Even more interesting to me is that the phrase ‘dark land’ means shade of death, the grave or shadow of death. 

I’ve felt like I’ve been in darkness. Darkness by definition means seeing is not possible, and there have been times I haven’t been able to see the way forward.  Depression has been my darkness.  Sin and anger have been my darkness.  Unforgiveness has been my darkness.

Darkness is overcome by light.  Light is the hope in the darkness, the cure of darkness.  Here the word for light means illumination, luminary in every sense, happiness, morning, sun. In Revelation Jesus refers to himself as the Bright Morning Star.  John calls Jesus the Light.  It sounds trite and cliché to say Jesus is the light in darkness, but it is also truth.

The darkness of wickedness (my unforgiveness for example) is overcome by the light of Christ who forgave ALL my sins and asks me to forgive others.  As I submit and repent, light shines in my darkness.

The darkness of hopelessness is lightened by the presence of Christ.  Even when or especially when physical death is immanent, Christ is the reminder of eternal life, that this world is just a shadow of eternity.

The people of Isaiah’s time faced a darkness of distress and anguish, a darkness of very real fears of a very real enemy, and a darkness of ignorance through rejecting God, His ways and His prophets and looking to man for solutions.  Isaiah prophesied that these people in darkness would see a great light.  We read with the knowledge that he is foretelling Christ, but to the people light symbolized hope, help, even deliverance.

When we say Jesus is the light, we are saying He is what overcomes darkness. Whatever the darkness we walk in, Christ has the answer.  Christ is the answer.  Not the answer that we have decided will fix everything, but the presence that changes everything.  “Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”

How Dare He! (Isaiah 7)

     I’ve read Judges, Kings and Chronicles more than once, so it takes a lot to shock me.  But King Ahaz shocked me! He was outlandish, audacious, brazen. There are many other adjectives that I could apply to him, but instead I’m just going to list some of his ‘accomplishments.’ (from 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28)

·         Did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord
·         Made his son pass through the fire (abominations of the nations)
·         Sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, hills, under every green tree
·         Asked king of Assyria for help
·         Took silver and gold from the house of the Lord and sent to king
·         Sent plan of Damascus altar to his priest and instructed him to build it
·         Offered his burnt offering, meal, drink and peace offerings on this new pagan altar
·         Moved the Lord’s bronze altar to another side of his altar
·         Instructed priests to use his new altar for all sacrifices
·         Used the Lord’s altar as his private altar
·         Cut apart the temple utensils (those made to the Lord’s specific instructions)
·         Made molten images for the Baals
·         Was very unfaithful to the Lord
·         In distress became more unfaithful to the Lord
·         Sacrificed to the gods of Damascus
·         Closed the doors of the house of the Lord
·         Made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem
·         Made high places in every city to burn incense to other gods

God extended an opportunity of repentance and restoration even to the affront that was King Ahaz.  He sent Isaiah with specific words for Ahaz and with the singular offer to ask for a sign.  Not many in scripture are given permission by God to ask for a sign.  But Ahaz rebuffed God’s offer, he remained in his unfaithfulness, he refused to repent and return.  Ultimately, he rejected the Lord as his God.

God ALWAYS desires restoration of His people.  He ALWAYS has an offer.  But He stops short of forcing people’s hands, of forcing obedience, of forcing repentance.  I’m currently praying for several people I wish God would push to repentance, but as I pray I see a picture of the Lord extending His hand to them ready to grasp and pull them up.  But they have to reach out.  They always have a choice.

The good news: no one, not even Ahaz, is beyond the care and compassion of the Lord.   He always pursues. He always offers redemption.

Yes, Lord!!

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”  Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

Why does this verse prick my heart?  I want to be one that without hesitation responds, “Here I am, send me!” when the Lord calls.  I want to be like Isaiah or like Mary who asked one question and then responded, “I am the bondslave of the Lord; may it be to me according to your word.”  However, I fear I would make excuses like Jeremiah.  Or come up with lots of reasons why I should not be chosen like Moses.  Or worse, run in the opposite direction like Jonah.

Thankfully, I know how Jeremiah, Moses and Jonah responded to the call of God because they made the Book too!  The Bible is not just full of success stories, accounts of those flawless individuals who made no mistakes, never wondered, never doubted and never feared.  Gloriously, the Bible is full of human failures, human mistakes, human doubts, human unbelief.  In summary, the Bible is full of human sin.

God answered Jeremiah’s concerns with a personal experience, and further opportunities show Jeremiah’s growth and confidence when he obeyed without question some specific and seemingly crazy instructions.  God countered every argument/excuse Moses came up with, and Moses proceeded to become a remarkable yet imperfect leader who spoke face to face with God just as a man speaks to his friend. And God demanded Jonah’s full attention in a most unlikely way, transforming a recalcitrant servant of God into an effective if volatile prophet.

How will I respond when I hear the voice of the Lord?  I HOPE with, “Here I am; send me.” Nevertheless, the story is always less about me and more about the Lord.  If He can bring a prophet from the belly of a fish, He can overcome the doubt, fear and sin of a disciple hiding behind her insecurities and rationalizations.  It is less about what I think I can do and more about what God WILL do through someone who will say, “Yes!”

Isaiah 5 – Woes of Today

Woe to you who focus on accumulating stuff yet ignore the people around you with real needs.  You miss out on the blessings that accompany following God’s priorities.

Woe to you who focus on indulgence and instant gratification, choosing immediate pleasure over lasting joy and hope.  You miss out on the blessing of seeing God at work; He’s working, you’re just too distracted to see it.

Woe to you who have concluded the end justifies the means, living by lies, trampling over others and promoting sin to get what you want.  You miss out on the blessings that come from waiting on the Lord and seeing His plans fulfilled.

Woe to you who turn evil on its head, calling darkness light and wickedness good, all in an effort to downplay sin.  You miss out on the blessings that accompany truth and light.

Woe to you who focus on your own intelligence, depending on your wits to help you succeed and placing all your hope in clever plots.  You miss out on the blessings of humility and dependence.

Woe to you who look to man’s provision and man’s capabilities looking only for results while ignoring character and integrity.  You miss out on what is lasting – the growth of a soul that lives for eternity.

Not Knowing

“Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. An ox knows it’s owner, and a donkey it’s master’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Isaiah 1:2-3

Isaiah dives right in with warnings, with chastisement.  This is not cheery reading.  Why is it here?  What does this teach me about the heart of God?

God is desperately worried about His children, here the children of Israel.  He’s calling them out in very strong terms. I’m no farm animal expert, but my understanding is that donkeys and oxen aren’t the brightest crayons in the box.  In essence He’s saying even the donkey and ox know better than His people.

He’s addressing their rebellion by saying they do not know and they do not understand.

Do all sins begin with the not knowing?  In our times, not knowing might be the greatest rebellion.  Not knowing means I choose to know something else.

“Inconsideration of what we do know is as great an enemy to us in religion as ignorance of what we should know.”  Matthew Henry

I am frequently guilty of not considering what I know.  In other words, I choose to ignore what I know when it’s inconvenient to my pursuit of what I want.

The beginning of Isiah has more questions than answers for me.  But questions have the potential to reveal my heart.  And the passion and concern expressed in Isaiah 1 convinces me that my heart is of great concern to my God.

Verse 4 challenges me to assess my personal discipleship. Is there anything I have abandoned, despised or forsaken, relinquished or turned away from?

-Have I abandoned fellowship with God?

-Have I forsaken time with God? (I can try to pretend that forsaken time with God does not mean I’ve forsaken God, but really in any relationship if I give up spending time with a person, I’ve given up the person.)

-Have I relinquished reading my Bible? Prayer?

-Have I left spiritual practices behind?

-Have I scorned or despised anything of God?

-Have I turned my back in the act of turning to something else?  How frequently have I ignored God and my spiritual life?

-Have I turned away or aside from God? Have I chosen another (person or thing) to pour my time, energy and love into? Who or what am I following?

I think God is  trying to convey to me in the strongest possible way that rebellion is serious.  Sin is serious.

In the Old Testament, in Isaiah, we read of judgment for iniquity but also of the promise of forgiveness. (v18) I live under that the new covenant where my sin is forgiven and wiped away!  Hallelujah! However, I still need to remember my sin is serious primarily because my sin is an obstacle to knowing God. And oh how I want to know God!!