Saturday, December 24, 2022

 

Saturday, December 24, 2022


Psalms 130; 131; 133

Isaiah 28:14-29

Galatians 3:23-4:7


Observance: Fourth Saturday in Advent


But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul within me is like a weaned child.


This world, which our good God made and blessed just for us, can be so dark at times. It can all get more than a little overwhelming. Usually, there is nothing we can do about it, either. The weather is too strong; illnesses actively outsmart our best efforts at a cure; there is always a darker place the human spirit can go.


The Lord Jesus, the One who knows about all this from personal experience, teaches us that our attitude needs to be focused on the Father. God wants us to trust utterly in Him. God wants to take this trust and wield it as His instrument of blessing and healing in the world.


Tomorrow we will celebrate the incarnation. Tomorrow is the day when we celebrate that day two thousand years ago, when God decided the time was right to enter into the material world, and as a human being, at that.


It is such a simple message. There is no advanced course in philosophy we need to take before we can understand how and why God rights every wrong. The baby is born; He grew up in wisdom and stature, and at the zenith of His manhood, He died the death we deserve, so that we could share in His resurrection. Since we are talking about God, there will of course always be more to learn. But these are the basics.


These basics are all we need. And the trust in these basics is all God wants from us. Try it out: when you are next lying in your bed, feeling far too much like an adult, wearied from the stresses and tensions of the world, remember the Lord Jesus, who He is, and just how much He loved you to come into this world for your sake. Then you, too, will be the weaned child, resting your soul in God’s gentle and strong embrace.



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