1st Sunday in Advent
From my morning bible readings:
2 Peter 3:8 -10 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.Today's devotional: Advent 1: Sunday Read
Psalm 25:1-10Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On
You I wait all the day. (Psalm 25:5)
If you have any children in the house, you have an especially acute sense
that Christmas is coming. In other words, they don't stop talking about the
holiday on the horizon, and from their perspective it's going to be forever before
December 25 arrives. For you, the feeling might be different: there's so much to
do, and so little time.
Advent is a time of waiting and preparation, waiting and preparing to
celebrate the birth of Christ. Waiting and preparation go together: as you wait,
it's wise to get ready. That's true for expectant parents, military troops and
students before finals week. The preparing also helps the time go by.
Sometimes, though, there's nothing to do but wait. Wait and see if the treatment
helps. Wait for your friend to say whether or not he'll give you another chance.
Wait for the verdict. Wait and see if you've gotten the job. That's agonizing time.
David was in such a time when he wrote Psalm 25. Surrounded by enemies
and treacherous followers, there was nothing left for him to do but wait—wait
for the Lord to deliver him. He prayed that the Lord would not put him to shame
in defeat. He prayed that the Lord would not hold his sins against him. But he
also prayed that the Lord would lead him in truth and teach him—“For you are
the God of my salvation.” Here was David's hope: even though there was
nothing more that he could do, the God of His salvation was still at work. While
it was given to David to wait, he could be certain that the Lord was doing. God
was working David's deliverance in His perfect, secret wisdom. In some ways,
that wait would go on a long time: it would be centuries before the Son of David
was born to deliver David from sin and death. But it would happen.
As this Advent season moves toward Christmas, it may find you waiting for
deliverance, too. The devil delights to use such waits to torment you with all
sorts of temptations and doubts. Read Psalm 25, and rest assured. No matter
what the devil whispers, God does not hold the sins of your youth against you—
or the sins of your later years, for that matter. His work and deliverance is often
cloaked humbly, so much so that many miss it. But you can be sure that He
delivers you. Look at the Infant Son of God in the manger—and then on the
cross. Hear the Lord speak to you in His Word, leading you in His truth.
Remember your Baptism and receive your Savior in, with and under the bread
and wine of the Lord's Supper. There, the Lord waits upon you; so that as you
wait you can be sure that you are prepared for salvation—because Jesus has
prepared you by His life, death and resurrection.
Jesus, Thy Church with longing eyes For thine expected coming waits.
When will the promised light arise And glory beam from Zion’s gates?
E’en now, when tempests round us fall And wintry clouds o’ercast the sky,
Thy words with pleasure we recall And deem that our redemption’s nigh.
(TLH 64:1-2)