I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning. (Psalm 130:5-6)
One line from a popular Christmas song, “O Holy Night” has been ringing in our hearts: “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices….”
When we observe Advent, we aren’t just preparing our hearts for the Christ child on Christmas morning, we are also invited to prepare our hearts for the time when Christ will return. We look around and recognize the tension that Christ has come and brought with him the Kingdom of God, but at the same time, we know that all is not well. There is still so much violence, loneliness, and suffering of all kinds. We wait expectantly, hopefully for the time when Christ will return and all will be made new.
As we prepare room in our lives, we might begin by admitting that we have too often filled our lives with the pursuit of power, comfort, and safety—and as a result, contributed to the suffering of others—rather than follow the example of Jesus and die to ourselves as we serve and observe the image of God in each of our neighbors and ourselves.
What if this first week of Advent, this week of hope, we let Psalm 130 speak for us? What if we read and meditate on it so that it becomes our prayer? And as a result of this prayer, let us help point others to the Hope of the world, who is Jesus Christ.
“The love of God is one of the great realities of the universe, a pillar upon which the hope of the world rests. But it is a personal, intimate thing too. God does not love populations, He loves people. He loves not masses, but men.” - A.W. Tozer