Psalm 42; Isaiah 29:17-24; Acts 5:12-16
Today's focus is on Psalm 42.
It’s the season of Advent; the season of waiting. There are many things we wait for in life – we wait for dinner to cook; we wait for the days’ work to be done so we can go home; we wait for the bus; we wait for love. Sometimes the waiting seems endless; we feel that prize at the end of the wait is never going to get here. We get impatient, even angry sometimes while we wait. We may feel sad. The writer of Psalm 42 was waiting for God. Verse 1 says: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” This season of Advent is a season of longing. We are longing for the birth of that little baby who is our Lord and Savior and who gives us hope. Some of us fill that time by going to church each Sunday and celebrating the waiting. Some of us fill the time with Christmas shopping, decorating and baking. Others don’t have much to fill that time with – they are sad and afraid, maybe waiting alone for Christmas. Perhaps that is more of us than we care to admit. We worry about our families, our finances, our world in general. But then Christmas Eve comes, we go to church and we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the light of the world. As we light our candles and sing “Silent Night,” we feel the hope surge within us. We, too, follow the star and find hope at the end of it. Verse 11 says: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
Keep hoping in God my friends, for Christmas is almost here.
Darcy Whitney
Today's focus is on Psalm 42.
It’s the season of Advent; the season of waiting. There are many things we wait for in life – we wait for dinner to cook; we wait for the days’ work to be done so we can go home; we wait for the bus; we wait for love. Sometimes the waiting seems endless; we feel that prize at the end of the wait is never going to get here. We get impatient, even angry sometimes while we wait. We may feel sad. The writer of Psalm 42 was waiting for God. Verse 1 says: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” This season of Advent is a season of longing. We are longing for the birth of that little baby who is our Lord and Savior and who gives us hope. Some of us fill that time by going to church each Sunday and celebrating the waiting. Some of us fill the time with Christmas shopping, decorating and baking. Others don’t have much to fill that time with – they are sad and afraid, maybe waiting alone for Christmas. Perhaps that is more of us than we care to admit. We worry about our families, our finances, our world in general. But then Christmas Eve comes, we go to church and we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the light of the world. As we light our candles and sing “Silent Night,” we feel the hope surge within us. We, too, follow the star and find hope at the end of it. Verse 11 says: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
Keep hoping in God my friends, for Christmas is almost here.
Darcy Whitney
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