Hope
Do we, here in the 21st century West, have any concept of what it means to have hope? Real hope? Do we understand what long-suffering means? Can we comprehend what it means to depend on the promises of God?
Consider Psalm 80.
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
O LORD God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
(Psalm 80:3-7 ESV)
For the Second Sunday of Advent, this year, we are celebrating Hope. The promise of God – redemption for mankind – was long awaited and, upon his arrival, was misunderstood. In like manner, I think, we have misunderstood what it means to rely on the hope we have in God. In our self-made reliance, we mistakenly rely on our ability to provide for ourselves temporal pleasures – a temporary immortality.
Instead, let's return to an understanding of our history, to an understanding of why we're here, and to an understanding of who God is.
The Bondage of Corruption, by Keith Patman
The world, upon its axis whirling, groans.
The flitting sparrow flinches, flails, and falls.
An aching hollow howls within the bones
Of bird and beast and man; the death-curse palls
Once-glad creation. Stung with sorrow, pain,
We toil and struggle under leaden skies
And wail like Israel in Pharaoh's reign,
“How long, O Lord, will you ignore our cries?”
God's Holy Spirit bears the troubled prayer
Aloft, with a more deeply uttered groan
Than ever echoed in earth's bitter air,
And lets the burden fall before the throne.
God answers. From a starlit hillside creche
A pain-cry rings as cold air bites new flesh.
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