What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst. I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint.
And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time. Habakkuk 2:1-3 (The Message)
Advent is coming. It is almost time for us to remember the pangs, the anticipation, and the seeming interminable pause before the birth of Jesus. But in this broken and hurting world we don’t need special celebrations to remind us of what it is to wait on the coming of your kingdom. Our hearts cry out with the words of Revelation, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”
God help us to open our eyes, to see your presence, to work for wholeness and healing. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to care, and the strength to work toward your beloved kingdom of grace and mercy. Help us to write what we see, when we see your presence. Spur us on to write it out so that it can be read on the run.
The past few days have been a mixture of potential and grief around the world. Even as the events around me tempt me to close my eyes off to the world at large, help me to see beyond myself to the cares (and joys) of a bigger world. Guide me to pray:
- for the women and girls who survived the violence of Boko Haram in Nigeria, only to find themselves vulnerable again. Now there are reports that many of these brave women have been sexually abused by leaders in the camps where they sought refuge,
- for the authorities in Peru who are diligently working to save the yellow-spotted Amazon River turtles by releasing 500,000 baby turtles back into the wild by mid-November ,
- for the people of the United States where a deeply divisive election has lead to fear for some, and joy for others,
- for the families of the victims of Rurik Jutting, who was recently convicted of the 2014 murders of two Indonesian women,
- for the people of South Korea where President Park Guen-hye recently removed the country’s prime minister in the midst of an ongoing political scandal,
- for the millions in Yemen who are at the risk of starving as the food crisis deepens in the war-torn country,
- for those who are grieving the deaths of friends and family,
- for those who are celebrating the promise of new life,
- for those who have served in their country’s military and carry scars that can be seen, and those that cannot,
- for children around the world who desperately long for the love of their parents,
- for my neighbors down the street, and my neighbors around the globe.
Help me to see the work of your hands in the most unexpected of places, and to cherish that work in the places where I anticipate your grace as well.
Remind me, O God, that your kingdom is on the way, that it will come right on time.
Leave a Reply