I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me…
The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,my people do not understand…
Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Unless the LORD Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
— Isaiah 1
The big idea behind Advent is waiting. We submerse ourselves in scriptures about when Israel was waiting on the Messiah, and promises that he will return again. Through learning to wait for Christmas, we learn to wait well in life in general.
Israel couldn’t wait. They refused to do things God’s way, and found themselves devastated. Their cities demolished, their people only a remnant, surviving by the skin of their teeth. Without any note of the coming Messiah, it seems strange to think of this as an Advent scripture. But maybe the point is to show that God is waiting, too. Patiently standing by for us to turn away from our self destructive patterns, and embrace the life he has for us.
I don’t like rules. I don’t like being told what to do. The idea of God as some cosmic referee, making sure we color between the lines, holds no interest for me. But, like the people of Israel, I’m tremendously self destructive. Left to my own devices I will alienate the people around me, flounder and fail at the tasks I’m given, and suffer in endless loneliness and depression.
God doesn’t want us to follow his ways because he’s keeping score. It’s because he built us. He know’s who we are, what we’re capable of, and how the world really works. Perhaps, like the Israelites, he’ll intervene before we completely destroy ourselves. But in the meantime, he’s waiting on us, promising “there’s a better way.”
Related Post and Link:
– A Guide to Advent
– 2010 Advent Reading Calendar
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