Isaiah 64:4–9 (NIV)
4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. 8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.
Isaiah 2:5 (NIV)
5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Comment
As we prepare for the Christmas season – decorating the tree, shopping, deciding who’s family to visit, when or where to holiday, so too, as Christians we remember how Jesus came as a baby, while anticipating his second coming as the resurrected Lord God. We begin Advent in Isaiah, remembering how the brokenness of the world is inescapable and how thing’s aren’t as they should be. In Isaiah’s day, God’s people are reminded of their sin and need for God’s rescue and mercy to them. And so, as Advent comes around every year, let us reorientate our hearts and minds to the hope of the coming of Jesus, confess our sins and walk in the light of the Lord this December.
This Week
What are some evidences of the brokenness of this world that you’ve seen this week? How does the return of Jesus help reframe the way you see them?
Think about someone you know who might be feeling overcome by darkness. What are some ways you can point them to the hope of Christ’s advent this week?
Prayer
O Lord our God, make us watchful and keep us faithful as we await the coming of your Son our Lord; that, when he shall appear, he may not find us sleeping in sin but active in his service and joyful in his praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Song
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel