Once again we turn to the
prophet Isaiah for our Advent meditation. This passage is filled with promise
for all of us:
For just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
and do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
giving seed to him who sows
and bread to him who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10 NAB translation)
The interpretive key to this
passage, for me, is my word, which reminds me of the beginning of the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God and the Word was God.
The Word is Jesus Christ,
come down from heaven.
He waters the earth: we are the earth, thirsting for God all the
days of our lives. The water that Jesus brings is the living water that he promised to the Samaritan woman at the well in
John 4. He promises that if we drink of this water we shall never again thirst.
Our thirst will be satisfied with the coming of the Lord. What is dry and
cracked and barren in our lives will be made fertile, and bear fruit—perhaps things
which you have never even imagined up until this point in your life.
Christ will come to do the will
of the Father, and achieve the end for which He was sent: our salvation, our
healing, His forgiveness, His grace and truth, His mercy and compassion, and His
love for you which is so great that He died for you—you alone, if necessary.
And then, having achieved all of
this, He will return to the Father. And your life will never again be the same.
And so, no matter where you are
at this point in time—whether you are standing at the peak of a mountain which
you have struggled to climb or whether you are lost in a pit or in a valley of
near-despair, consider this passage and realize that Jesus Christ is being sent
into the world—and to you—to achieve His Father’s purpose for you in your life.
Some of you may already have had
evidence of this in your life; some of you may be waiting for the gift to touch
you and transform you. All of you—no, all of us—are once again promised
a great and wonderful gift.
Celebrate the coming of this
gift, and your Advent will be blessed. And your Christmas will be filled with a
delight that no one can take from you.
God bless you!
Tomorrow will be my last post for 2015, and I will resume posting again
on January 3, 2016. Thank you for reading these reflections and thank you for
your kind words and encouragement. Please spread the word, post these
reflections on your own timelines, and send me email addresses for my mailing
list.
Thank you so much.
