Isaiah 12
Songs of Praise
1 In that day you will say:
"I will praise you, LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
"Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."
And, then, we find the words in Wesley's hymn, Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set they people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
At the heart of this Advent season and the Christian gospel is the truth that God loves us (as I mentioned on November 29) and that He is ever willing to forgive our sins. We all want to be freed from the oppression of our sinful selves; to be released from the fear of God's judgment; to find rest in knowing there is a way beyond our troubled spiritual selves.
God desires to forgive us; there is no debate on this central truth. It is His very nature to want us to know both love and forgiveness. Just knowing that God moves toward us offering us the opportunity to experience His grace and forgiveness is freeing indeed. Many a person wallows in excessive guilt because their image of God is of one who can't wait to bring hell-fire and damnation on our sinful selves. Far too many people suffer emotionally because someone has told them that they're doomed before the holiness of God.
Advent comes, among other reasons, to remind us that the love and forgiveness of God comes to us at the manger of Bethlehem; in the birth of this child into human history; in the history changing truth that none of us are so removed from God or so dark within the soul that we cannot find our way to God and His love. Or, more appropriately, that in Christ He has found His way to us.
Now, obviously, God's grace and forgiveness, while freely extended to us, only come to fruition within our souls as we acknowledge both our need of God's grace and our sincere desire to become new persons ordering our lives in new ways.
Worth our reflection these days of Advent, isn't it?
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