The Wait
Sunday, December 14
James 5:7-10
Do you like to plant seeds and with the sun’s warmth and rain (or sprinklers), watch them grow and produce beautiful flowers, leaves, roots, or fruit that is good to eat? I do! I experiment with eight four-by-four planters in the backyard, which in Texas means almost year-round produce!
With easy access to lovely produce in our grocery stores, we tend to forget the effort and patience needed. Plants require sowing in the right season, the right space (sun or shade?), and right temperatures (and faith that it will survive), along with feeding, watering, protecting (which involves sweat, bug bites, and muscles), and time, which means patience! But when it is finally time to harvest—God’s providence is always generous—my soul is filled with joy to witness the bounty.
My Creator, help me to wait faithfully with joyful anticipation while working the soil and trusting that your timing is so loving. Amen.
More Waiting?
Monday, December 15
Isaiah 35:1-4
Can beauty blossom profusely from a barren and desolate place like the desert? I didn’t think that was possible in an environment that is just sand, creeping erosion, and little water. But a short video showed me that when humans steward the earth well, the land can bloom vigorously. Niger, Saudi Arabia, and China have reclaimed desertified land so that the marred land blossoms! Subsistence farmers harvest bountifully, so their families are fed and can sell the extra to improve their economic situation.
Imagine the patience and the time it took to transform these desolate places. It would have required years of effort. I imagine the people involved may have wondered, “Will this work?” and, “Will this be worth all my sweat and aching muscles?” Surely, they must have been anxious and exhausted from the mountains of sand. In due time, what joy they must have experienced when browns and tans were joined by yellows, reds, and greens!
El Shaddai, remind me of your power to transform dust into life and ashes to joy-filled beauty. Amen.
The Time Has Come
Tuesday, December 16
Isaiah 35:5-7
I wonder if the hearers of Isaiah’s words who were living in exile thought, “What? What is this—the blind can see, the deaf can hear, the limpers leap, and the mute shouts for joy? Impossible! It just doesn’t happen. Not my experience in this desert.” Yet hundreds of years later that’s exactly what is recorded by the apostles and other eyewitnesses.
The waiting is over! The long-awaited promised One grows in an obedient daughter-of-the-King’s womb. Then, thirty years later (more waiting!), Jesus the Messiah begins righting the wrongs and restoring people and his kingdom with countercultural acts of love while living in community with his followers and his daddy. Let the restoration and healing begin! That’s bursting streams and springs in the desert! In the song “Beautiful Things,” Gungor puts it this way: “You make beautiful things out of the dust… You make beautiful things out of us.”
Jehovah Rapha, thank you for your healing power that transforms dust to life so beautifully. Thank you for doing that within and through us. Amen.
The Sacred Road
Wednesday, December 17
Isaiah 35:8-10
The U.S. highway system totals 199,000 miles. I really appreciate our highways and roadways, especially in comparison to other countries. After apartheid ended, we partnered with a South African church in Cape Town on a mission trip to the San (Basara) people in Botswana. Driving on the rocky roads, our Mercedes bus got a flat tire. There were no towns or roadside gas stations nearby. Thankfully, we had one spare tire on board. The tire was changed, and we kept going. Later, the bus got stuck in a sandy road, and everyone (including our middle-aged kids) got off and pushed.
Imagine the day when a highway of holiness is available for God’s redeemed people to fearlessly and firmly walk on! Can you imagine the day when sorrow and sighing are gone and the redeemed shout for joy, their gladness lasting forever?
Jehovah Jireh, how can we praise you enough for making the way and providing for us, even when we don’t see a way? Amen.
Are You Really Who You Say You Are?
Thursday, December 18
Matthew 11:2-11
What was the depth of sorrow and doubt in John’s heart while he was in prison? He was Jesus’s cousin after all. He had encountered Jesus while they were both in the womb, so John literally knew Jesus his entire life. Yet while locked in a Roman prison, he asked, “Are you the one? Is it you? Was I mistaken to trust you and prepare the way?” Things didn’t look so good from where he sat.
In response Jesus quotes Isaiah 35: the blind see, the limp walk, the deaf hear, the unclean are cleansed, the dead are alive (what?!), and the poor have the good news! John didn’t get to hear the whole good news story, but we are privileged to know that Jesus brought the King of kings’ reign on earth through his life, death, and resurrection so that we can experience eternal life—now (John 17:3)!
Jehovah Shalom, when my heart fills with doubt, help me to see your face. Be my joy and peace. Amen.
What Do You Want?
Friday, December 19
Matthew 20:29-34
How were the blind regarded in Jesus’s context? They were beggars. They were the “other.” Outcasts. Outsiders. Quarantined. We see it as the crowd silences them. But, oh, their cry for mercy when none has been shown.
Honestly, I am surprised by Jesus’s question: “What do you want me to do?” Jesus knew they were blind. Wasn’t it obvious? They wanted out of their disgrace into bountiful grace. But maybe the question wasn’t for Jesus’s sake, but for their sake and ours. Their desire was for opened eyes—to see and be brought out of social death to life.
The passage invites us to pause to reflect on how I treat “the other.” Will we move with compassion and be a conduit of healing, or will we walk to the other side of the road? With the gift of seeing in a whole new way, will we immediately follow him?
El Roi, thank you for seeing me through eyes of compassion although my state is desperate. Thank you for being moved to touch me and heal my way of seeing. Amen.
What About You?
Saturday, December 20
Psalm 146:5-10
As I reflect on today’s Scripture, I am so grateful that I can attest to the truth of this psalm in my life. My hope is in my Creator, who has proven himself faithful repeatedly. I don’t lack food. I’ve been freed from sin’s bondage. My way of seeing is being transformed through God’s Word. Through my many prayers while I was bowed down, he has raised me up. He watches over me as a foreigner and first-generation immigrant. He is supporting me as a widow. And all this came to be through my community of faith. I am so thankful for our good God’s reign, and I eagerly await the fullness of his kingdom to be realized. What joy—let us praise the Lord!
How have you experienced this psalm in your life?
Jehovah El Elyon, my most high God, thank you for your relentless grace and compassion for me and all yours. I praise you for who you are—above all that I can think or imagine. Amen.
