SUNDAY

Anticipation

What was it like before Jesus came?

The Jewish people waited and waited for the long-promised Messiah. Some of them were beginning to lose faith. It is this situation of waiting and longing for the coming of Jesus that is the focus of this week meditations.

I thirst for you, the living God.

When can I go and worship in your presence?

Psalm 42:2

Jim Bishop wrote a book called The Day Christ Died. It contains a beautiful passage describing how Jews thirsted and longed for the coming of the Messiah. The passage reads something like this:

The coming of the Messiah was a sweet national obsession. It was joy beyond imagining, happiness beyond belief. It was comfort for the weary farmer’s bones as he lay in bed at night with his family waiting for sleep. It was the dream of every grey-haired person nearing the end of life. It was the thing a small child looked to a mountain of snow-white clouds to see. It was the hope of Judaea in chains.

Imagine you are a Jew living in Israel just before Jesus’ coming. Imagine that your teenage daughter is beginning to lose faith in a Messiah. She comes to you and asks why you continue to believe in and hope for the coming of a Messiah when many other Jews do not.

How is this imaginary situation similar to the situation many young – and even older – Christians find themselves in today concerning the fuller coming of Jesus into their lives?

Speak to Jesus about your desire to know him better and follow him more closely.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard

*****

MONDAY

Tell everyone who is discouraged,

“Be strong and don’t be afraid!

God is coming to your rescue.”

Isaiah 35:4

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist when the Nazis took over Germany. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl describes the sufferings that Jews endured in those camps.

One of the worst sufferings was that of waiting. It was the pain of waiting to learn what had happened to loved ones, waiting to learn one's own fate, waiting to be executed, waited to be rescued. This waiting affected prisoners in different ways. Some lost hope and despaired. Some lost faith and stopped believing. Others continued to wait and pray. They never lost hope or despaired. They never lost faith.

What was true of Jews in Nazi Germany was also true of Jews in ancient Israel. They too suffered from political oppression. They too suffered from the pain of waiting – waiting for the Messiah. When the Messiah didn’t come, some lost faith and hope. Others continued to wait and pray.

This raises a question about Jesus’ fuller coming into our own personal lives. Why are some modern Christians able to wait and pray for this while others are not?

How would you answer the above question? Speak to Jesus about your “waiting and praying” for his fuller coming into your own personal life.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard

Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me.

Restore my strength; don’ let me die.

Don’t let my enemies say,

“We have defeated him.”

Don’t let them gloat over my downfall.

Psalm 13:3-4

The situation in Israel before Jesus’ coming is beautifully expressed in James Michener’s novel The Source. One sequence describes old Rabbi Asher walking through an orchard of gnarled olive trees. Suddenly he notices a very old tree.

Its interior was rotted away, leaving an empty shell through which one could see; but somehow the remaining fragments held contact with the roots, and the old tree was still vital, sending forth branches that bore good fruit. Asher thought that it well summarized the state of the Jewish people: an old society much of whose interior had rotted away, but those fragments still held vital connections with the roots of God, and it was through these roots of law that Jesus could ascertain the will of God and produce good fruit.

How is the situation in modern society similar to that of Jewish society before Jesus’ coming?

Speak to Jesus about God’s will for you and your desire to do it.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard

*****

WEDNESDAY

There was a man named Simeon

living in Jerusalem

He was a good, God-fearing man

and was waiting for Israel to be saved.

Luke 2:25

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American writer. When he died in 1864, he had on his desk the outline of a play that he never got a chance to finish. The play centered around a leading character who never appeared on stage. Everyone talked about this leading person. Everyone dreamed about this leading person. Everyone awaited the person’s arrival. But the person never appeared on stage.

The Old Testament is something like Hawthorne’s play. The Old Testament centered around the Messiah. Everyone talked about the Messiah. Everyone awaited the Messiah's arrival. But the Messiah never came.

Many people today are like the people of Old Testament times - and the people in Hawthorne’s play. They are waiting for Jesus to come into their lives more fully. But this has not yet happened, and they are beginning to lose hope.

Is there someone you know who seems to be waiting for Jesus to come into his or her life – either for the first time or in a fuller way?

Speak to Jesus about this person and how you might help him or her.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard

*****

THURSDAY

Jesus said,

“You can do nothing without me.”

John 15:5

A Hindu parable concerns Mud Pie and Dry Leaf, who were very close friends. Since both were quite old, they wanted to pilgrimage to the holy city of Banaras to bathe in the Ganges River. They believed that washing in the river would cleanse them of all their sins.

The two friends discussed the great distance to be traveled and the great dangers to be overcome. They were especially worried about the rainstorms and windstorms. So they devised a clever strategy. During rainstorms, Dry Leaf would cover Mud Pie to keep it from washing away. And during windstorms, Mud Pie would sit on Dry Leaf to keep it from blowing away.

The first couple of weeks of travel worked out fine. Dry Leaf served as an umbrella for Mud Pie, and Mud Pie served as an anchor for Dry Leaf. Then one day something terrible happened. The wind blew and the rain poured at the same time.

How does this parable help you to better understand the situation of people in the world before the coming of Jesus?

Speak to Jesus about the greatest need you have for him in your life right now.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard

*****

FRIDAY

Jesus taught his disciples this prayer:

“Our Father in heaven,

may your kingdom come;

may your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:9-10

In 1911 Captain Robert Scott and four other British explorers set out on foot for the South Pole. They traveled eight hundred miles through deep snow and bitter cold. A year later they reached the South Pole.

But on their return journey, their glorious victory turned into bitter defeat. Two men died along the way. The other three froze to death just a short distance from safety.

When the bodies of the men were found, the last words that each had written were still legible. One of the men was Bill Wilson, the doctor of the expedition. In his last hours he wrote:

So I live now, knowing that I am in God's hands to be used to bring others to him, if he wills a long life (for me), or to die tomorrow.

We must do what we can and leave the rest to him: My trust is in God, so that it matters not what I do or where I go.

Just as Bill Wilson resigned himself to whatever God willed, so the Jews prior to Jesus' coming resigned themselves to God's will and God’s timetable when it came to the promised Messiah.

What keeps you from resigning yourself to God’s will and timetable, as did Bill Wilson - and the Jews before Jesus’ coming?

Speak to Jesus about it.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard

*****

SATURDAY

Come, Lord Jesus!

Rev 22:20

The Little Prince is a delightful story. It is simple enough to be enjoyed by children, yet profound enough to be appreciated by adults.

The Little Prince is an alien from another planet. One day he finds himself stranded on earth. Naturally, he is lost and confused. One inhabitant on earth who helps him very much is an animal, a fox. A deep friendship eventually develops between the two.

At one point the Little Prince and the fox must separate for a while. Just before they do, the fox insists on setting the exact time for their next meeting. They agree on four o’clock of a certain day. When the Little Prince asks the fox why he wanted to set the time so exactly, the fox says, “If I know you’re coming at four o’clock, then I’ll begin to be happy at three o’clock.”

The ancient Jews longed to know the exact time of the Messiah’s coming. They, too, wanted to anticipate with joy the coming of another “prince,” the Prince of Peace. But God did not give them the exact time.

How patiently are you willing to wait for Jesus’ fuller coming into your life, without knowing if or what it will actually take place? How ready are you to do whatever is necessary to let the Prince of Peace come into your life right now?

Speak to Jesus about your degree of readiness.

Source: Daily Meditation from Advent Storecupboard