December 5th - Reflection

Isaiah 26:7-15 (NRSV)
The way of the righteous is level
The way of the righteous is level;
O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and your renown
are the soul's desire.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
If favor is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness they deal perversely
and do not see the majesty of the Lord.
O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
O Lord our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but we acknowledge your name alone.
The dead do not live;
shades do not rise
because you have punished and destroyed them,
and wiped out all memory of them.
But you have increased the nation, O Lord,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

Reflection
When you are in the midst of the wilderness and people are all around you who do not believe in God, if fact they may think that God has put them in this place to punish and insult them and are now angry with God; you cry out to God to come quickly and show you to that place that is straight and even when you know you are on the path God wishes for you to take.

But wait! Maybe God does want me on this mountainous path to suffer with these very same people. Maybe God has set me in this wilderness to proclaim the gospel from within the pain and suffering and anguish and sin. Maybe God wants me to be that voice of hope telling about the salvation of Jesus and how we do have hope to make it to that land where the valleys are low and the plain is level. Maybe... maybe???

Prayer
Lord, bring me the calm and the focus I need in those situations when I am afraid of my surroundings. Make me brave and bold enough to proclaim the gospel in the wilderness to those you give to me each day. --- Amen