They say
that patience is a virtue. I like to think that I am a patient person, but I’ve
been known to complain that the Keurig machine takes too long to make my coffee.
I don’t like to wait. Do you?
Our culture
is not good at waiting. I know I saw Christmas decorations for sale before
Halloween. And now we are preparing to celebrate Christmas. As we do, remember
that the world loves a particular version of Christmas. They like minimal
Jesus, over-the-top decorations and lights, sweets, treats, gifts, and a lots
of profit kind of Christmas (the financial kind, not so much the Biblical kind.)
Even here
at church, and it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas, but all season long,
you know I will keep talking about Advent. The decorations will go up today.
But we approach the season with a bit of reserve. There is a feeling of
anticipation and … waiting … as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
Have you
noticed that a lot of the Christian life is taken up with waiting? Adam and Eve
fell into sin and waited for one to crush the serpent’s head to bring their
salvation. Abraham and Sarah waited for a son who would be part of God’s plan
to bless the whole world. Kings, prophets, and the whole people of Israel
waited for God to keep His promise to bless them with salvation. And in the
fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of the virgin Mary, born under
the law, to save all of us who were under the law's condemnation. God the Son
stepped into history to walk the road to the cross and win our salvation by
shedding His blood for us.
This time
of year, we meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation. That’s the fancy
theological term for God the Son becoming human when He was conceived in Mary’s
womb. But there is another mystery in Jesus’ ministry of salvation: the mystery
of His presence. He says, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
He comes to us in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to deliver His salvation to us.
We live every day trusting in God because He is the God of our salvation.
And with
the promise of salvation, there is the promise of His return in glory, when the
God of our salvation will come to save us from this life of sin and death. And
… we … wait.
And as we
wait, there are struggles and trials and sorrows – along with joys and
triumphs, to be sure, but God uses the struggles with our sin and the troubles
of our lives to teach us to long for more than this world can give us. So, we
do well to learn to pray as King David did in Psalm 25.
He says,
“To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” He lifts up his soul? This is more than
some spiritual exercise. He is saying, “Lord, I put my life, my essence, my
very being, all that I am, into Your hands.” David has trouble. He has enemies
that are trying to overcome him. Now, David’s enemies are both physical and
spiritual because he is the king, and he is God’s representative to lead His
people. And do you know who else is God’s representative to lead people to know
Him through Jesus? You are. And you have enemies. You are blessed that you live
in a place where you are protected from physical harm as you follow your Lord
Jesus, but your spiritual enemies are no joke! Sin, death, and the devil are at
work in this world to steal your hope, your joy, and, if they can, your
salvation.
David
prays, “Don’t let me be put shame!” He’s not just saying, “Don’t let me be
embarrassed.” He’s begging God to keep his life from being meaningless so all
his work won’t come to nothing. And you, too, face that danger. You need the
God of your salvation to establish your hearts as blameless. Without that,
there is always fear that we’ve run the race with no purpose, that we just die
with a whimper, and then … what? … nothing?
David is
clinging to his faith as he cries out this reminder to God, “None who wait for
you shall be put to shame.” And that is God’s promise to you, too. In Romans 10
and Joel 2, God says that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be
saved. Thanks be to God, you will be saved! And now you … wait!
And as you
wait, pray. Pray, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.” In
one sense, this is asking God to teach you how to live and act as one of His
people. But in another sense, this is saying, make me know your ways – the ways
you bring salvation, and love, and forgiveness to me and to all your people,
Lord! And isn’t that what we’re doing here, as we begin the season of Advent?
We will retell the story of how God, the God of our salvation, acted in history
to save us through a mystery that will end in glory. We will read Luke 2 on
Christmas Eve because we are making known God’s ways and paths to our
salvation.
The prayer
repeats, which is what Hebrew poetry does. It repeats, “Lead me in your truth
and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation: for You I wait all the day
long.” Do you dare to pray this prayer? Lead me in Your truth, O God, the truth
of sin and grace, the truth about all my failures, the times I have fallen
short of being the person You intend me to be. The truth that I get wishy-washy
on what You teach in Your Word because people might be upset. The truth is
hard. But there is more: a glorious message as God teaches you all about His
salvation. The truth is that even before the world began, the Son of God loved
you and planned to take on human flesh so He could bleed for you and find life
for you by His death. Glory!
And we
pray, “Remember!” “Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for
they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my
transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of
your goodness.”
Verses 8-10
almost sound like platitudes in response to the emotional cry of David’s heart,
“good and upright is the LORD; therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He
leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way. All the
paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his
covenant and his testimonies.” But sometimes, we need such reminders which
sound like platitudes: “God works for the good of those who love Him!” “God so
love the world that He gave …,” we repeat again and again.
We repeat
it because the shame of our sin causes us to question, “Could this salvation
really be for me? Even when I stumble where I have fallen a million times
before?” We repeat it because so many broken hearts long for love: the wife who
questions her worth because of her in-law’s cruel words, the son who doubts his
father’s love. Could this salvation really be for them? We repeat it for the
lonely people who daily dwell in the separation that sin has brought into their
lives: the mother who is estranged from her daughter, the widow or widower
grieving so they can hardly gather among God’s people. We repeat it because we
know that we dwell in the shadow of death and the day will come when we will
stand before God’s judgment seat, and in the meantime, we wonder, “Where is the
God of my salvation?”
Recently, I
was speaking with an elderly gentleman. We’ll call him Charlie because that’s
his name. Charlie is a follower of Jesus, and he is acutely aware of how
imperfectly he has followed His Lord. Recently, Charlie reflected on his life
with me. He said, “Pray for me to finish the race and that, in the end, I can
just fall into the arms of Jesus.”
Isn’t that
our hope? Don’t we finally long for the moment when we hear it for ourselves,
“I am the God of your salvation.” I came in history. I dwelt with you as a
mystery. But now, now, you are with me in glory.
Father,
grant it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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