Waiting…with open arms

Do you like to wait?  I do not find waiting easy.  I will come back on a different day and a different time if I don’t have to wait.  But sometimes we are called to wait.  We don’t get any other options, but to wait.  While we wait, however, we do get options.  We can wait impatiently, we can wait with an angry heart or we can wait with faith.  During this Advent season we are invited to anticipate the coming of our Lord.  We look forward to His return, but today we wait. 



I have often been drawn to Simeon, the president of the “waiting” club.  Simeon was asked to wait for the consolation of Israel.  He was waiting for the comfort of his nation, but with each day that passed he wondered when it would occur. But the scripture tells us how he waited.  He was told that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  Given that Israel had not heard from a prophet in over 400 years it took a lot of faith to believe that God was about to break His silence.  But he trusted in the Word that was given to him and therefore he waited—with open arms. 



When you wait with faith it creates two things.  First it creates the belief that God will act.  He had faith that God was going send His Christ.  His faith gave him the ability to go to the temple courts with anticipation.  His faith gave him the conviction that he would not die before he saw God’s promise.  But his faith also gave him open arms.  When Simeon took the infant Jesus in his arms it says that he praised God saying:  “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace.”  What did the Lord promise?  He promised that Simeon would receive the Christ.  It did not say that Simeon would receive a child who would be King.  He had faith to be open to God’s sovereign plan.  He was led by the Holy Spirit to recognize God’s sovereign promise.



God is going to call us to wait.  But His invitation is to wait with faith:  faith to believe that God will act and faith to receive with open arms His sovereign plan. 



“Almighty God, grant that we joyfully receive from You Your sovereign plan and that we, your children, will wait with open arms to receive it.”

-Pastor Mark

Stir up Thy Power, O Lord

For those of you who have been around Christian music for a few years you will remember the song El Shaddai which was made famous by Amy Grant.  Michael Card, one of my favorite writers and musicians, wrote that song about the unique power of God.   From Abraham to the cross, Card chronicles the displays of God’s power in his song.  He speaks of the power of God on display in the salvation of Isaac and the deliverance of a nation as God parted the Red Sea.  But in the song Card rightly crescendos with the most awesome display of God’s power in what He did through frailty:  the incarnate Son of God who would surrender Himself to flesh.  The Almighty God would hide His power so that He might use His power to save us.    



Frailty and power are not normally put together.  By definition frailty means something that is infirm or weak.  Since when are infirm and weak synonyms of power?  How does God take surrender and death and turn them into deliverance?  God once said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord.” (Is. 55:8).  El Shaddai emptied Himself and took on the form of a man.  El Shaddai became a servant to the very people He created.  El Shaddai became man so that man might one day reside with God.  So God tells us that frailty is power.  Meekness is power.  Surrender is power.  Submission is power. 



During this advent season we anticipate the coming of God.  As we pray for His arrival we long for His power to be seen.  We long for El Shaddai to demonstrate His strength once again.  But like His first incarnation He will come in ways unsuspected; He will reveal His wisdom in ways that confound our logic.  Why?  Because He is El Shaddai, the Almighty God whose ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  The nativity is God’s message to the world, “I will come in power, but without faith you just might miss Me.” 



“Stir up Thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let Thy bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Almighty God, stir up Thy power once again and give us eyes to see it.”



For those who are now singing the song, enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuXB1a3NBCw



For the purist that prefer Michael Card’s version: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dorEYyfuUQ

Cry Mercy!

Merciful God, who sent Your messengers the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:  Give us grace to hear and heed their warnings and forsake our sins that we may greet you with joy. 



I witnessed the sheer terror in these two young ladies who, on this certain day were not looking forward to their father’s return home.  They had broken the rules and mom told them, “We will wait to deal with this when your father comes home.”  What was on most days a celebration marked by the grabbing of dad’s legs and being thrown up into the air, was today dread.  What made such a difference?  Sin.  It is ugly in how it reshapes our bodies and contaminates our relationships.  It must be dealt with or we never look forward to the coming of our Father.



The ancient fathers taught us to cry out to God, “Merciful God.”  It is God’s mercy that teaches us about the rich benefit of repentance.  It is God’s mercy that enables our repentance (Romans 2:4).  His tolerance and great patience was not to suggest sin did not matter.  His mercy is an expression of His commitment that He has another solution to care for our sin-stained hearts.  It’s called grace.   The gift of our Savior enables us to once again look forward to His coming. 



I realized the other day that if we view God like my little friends then Advent will bring no joy only sorrow.  If we are afraid of the retribution, His promised coming will touch us like the news of a paddle being raised to punish us.  But we cry out:   “Merciful God, teach us of the joy of repentance, the privilege of aligning our hearts and minds to You.  Grant to us today the ability to hear Your voice and to heed Your invitation so that through Your grace we may once again find delight in our relationship with You.”



Cry Mercy!