Advent in Exile - Christmas Longing With IsaiahSample

Isaiah was given a message to the people of God, the Israelites, who were in captivity in Babylon and felt abandoned there. He asks them,”Is my arm too short to ransom you?” (v.2), which evokes the memory of these same words spoken to Moses (when the Lord sent quail to feed the people in their exodus from Egypt). Isaiah equates his calling as the mouthpiece of God to that of Moses. The Lord told Moses.”Now go: I will help you speak and will teach you what to say”(Ex 4:12).

Isaiah wants it known that he, too, is delivering the words of God: “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue...” What words does he convey? God has not ‘divorced’ them; they are still His people. Just as the Israelites were given a pillar of fire in the wilderness to light their way, He will be the light for those who “trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.” (Isaiah 50:10).

Psalm 32 1-7.

To be blessed means simply to be happy. It is not complicated. When I keep silent and try to cover up or ignore my sin, my bones “waste away;” I am less productive, less visionary, less optimistic, or, as the passage implies, less happy. Conviction, like small pricks, nags at my spirit. But, this condition must be temporary for the believer. The Holy Spirit will not let you remain content in this state. The psalmist confesses that “Your hand was heavy upon me.” But thanks be to God, my sins are ‘covered’ and do not count against me.

Once I identify and acknowledge my sin, I am no longer ‘sapped’ of strength, having been freed from the guilt that my sin produced in me. In this renewed state of blessedness, my spirit is no longer deceived by Satan’s whispers. Whispers like “What you said was not so bad” or “Everybody does things like that” or “You were provoked. Surely God can’t expect that much of you,” become as meaningless and transparent as the lies they are.

When I pray to Him, He surrounds me with songs of deliverance; the mighty waters of this world’s pressures and afflictions will not reach me because I am in Him, my hiding place.

"In Light of this Advent Season, what is your heart longing for?"

-Donna Beardsley