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Advent 2 - Tuesday
By Pat Lee | December 9, 2008
Tuesday- December 9, 2008
Comfort My People
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40: 1-11
Scripture Verse: “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…” Isaiah 40:2
If anyone deserved to feel depressed, it was the Jewish people to whom these words of comfort were first written. Their country had been conquered by the Babylonians, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed, Jerusalem itself levelled and the people scattered or taken into captivity in Babylon where they had slaved for 60 years. What’s more they felt they had brought all this on themselves by failing to keep the covenant with God. They not only felt helpless but hopeless.
Feelings of depression are not limited to ancient people. They can happen to us today—sometimes because of what we have done or failed to do—sometimes because of events over which we have no control.
How does God confront us when we feel we’ve failed? Does He say “Serves you right.”? No.
“Comfort my people,” says our God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her sins are forgiven.” At the first Christmas, when God came into the world, he came as Jesus our Saviour. But throughout the Old Testament we see the God who stoops to pick us up. God knows our sins and failures and does not belittle them—instead God reaches past them. In God’s forgiveness, there is a restorative power to believe in our ultimate worth and dignity.
This week we will read this passage from Isaiah and allow God to speak His affirmation and love to us. God wants us to believe in his love and acceptance more than we believe our self-doubts. In the words of Corrie ten Boom from the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp: “No pit is so deep that God is not deeper still.”
Prayer: Loving God, we thank you for accepting us as we are and for your faithfulness to us. Amen
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