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Waiting Expectantly ~ Preparing Hopefully

Growing up in the deep south, I remember hearing church folks say, “If you ain’t in trouble, your prayers ain’t got no suction.” The Bible declares that our extremity is God’s opportunity. God is most likely to be found at your wit’s end, just when you need Him most, when you have run out of answers and almost out of hope.

Jesus did not visit this planet when we became good enough to receive him. “While we were yet sinners,” says the Bible, “Christ died for the ungodly.” He faced us at our worst, and loved us anyway, all the way to a cross.

What does this mean for you and me this Advent? It means that those who enter this holy season with the greatest needs, may stand the best chance of encountering the Messiah. After all, Jesus the Great Physician did not come to heal the healthy but the sick. His mission is not to round up the pious, but to seek and to save the lost. If you are hurting or lost or spiritually hungry this December, the odds are very great that you could encounter the Messiah.

What causes me to believe this? I got it straight from an Old Testament prophet named Micah. Seven hundred years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Micah was called by God to speak his word to the nation of Judah, whose national situation was awful. Morals were low, crime was rampant, the government was decadent, the courts were corrupt, most organized religion was formalistic and cold, and the dominant religion was materialism. Yes, that could be a description of contemporary America, but actually I’m talking about Judah in 700 B.C.

At that critical moment, Micah lambasted the nation’s sin. But he did much more than that.God gave him a vision of the future: “A Messiah will be born in tiny Bethlehem.God is going to send someone great to us. So don’t despair. God has good news coming!”

And that’s what the season of Advent is all about: we are waiting expectantly and preparing hopefully for God’s Good News to be fulfilled. And the prophet Micah reminds us that during Advent, the people who meet the Messiah are often those with the worst problems and the biggest needs. It seems that Jesus seeks them out. Just as Micah declared 700 years before Jesus’ birth, God’s best gifts are usually given in the worst of times.

Which of the Messiah’s gifts do you need most this Christmas – His presence? A new beginning? His peace? His promise? His joy? Ask him for it. His nature is to give.

Blessings to you all . . .
Rev. Tonya Arnesen

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