Mon, Nov 30

Out of the Depths I Cry

We live in between the two advents of Christ, where light and love broke into the darkness and brokenness of the world. Jesus overcame the darkness and released healing into the brokenness of our lives and world in His first Advent.  

And yet, we still see overwhelming darkness pervading our world and such depths of brokenness and pain still running rampant, invading our lives, destroying cultures and nations. We have moments, even seasons, where we feel like we are living in the dark, in the depths.

In our waiting for Christ’s second advent, we need to acknowledge the tension between light breaking forth into the darkness and overcoming it, but not annihilating it yet. It is still present, but we do not have to give it power! Healing has been unleashed into the world, but total restoration isn’t complete yet. 

We remember God’s faithfulness in the past; we anticipate God’s promises of the future, and we hope while we are in the present. And in the darkness, while we are waiting for the dawn, we pray.

Scriptures

2     O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

How Long, O Lord?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

17 my soul is bereft of peace;
    I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, “My endurance has perished;
    so has my hope from the Lord.”

19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.

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