Advent ABC: First and Last

Isaiah 41:4 (44:6, 48:12, Revelation 2:8) Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone am he.

In Bogotá in October, we were heartened to see the enthusiasm of the “new generation” for discipling and pastoring of pastors. Their energy and their sense of calling ignited ours. Imagine all the generations from the beginning of time calling faithful people to worship and serve him.

The “nueva generación” from several countries and their mentors at the DPP (Discipling and Pastoring of Pastors) Leaders and Co-leaders retreat in Bogotá, Colombia, October 2023

The First and the Last, Hillsong

Advent ABC: Everlasting Father

Isaiah 40:28-29 (9:6, Genesis 21:33) Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

There are several worship songs on the theme of Everlasting Father. I chose this one because it invokes Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son—which in turn reminds me of Rembrandt’s painting.

In the novel I’ve just submitted for publication, Facing the Faeries 1906, there is a “homecoming” chapter in which one of the characters, who has lived as an orphan, discovers he is loved and cherished by family. Thus, today’s theme is particularly moving for me. So many of us have lived “fatherless.” The Everlasting Father invites us home.

Everlasting Father, Elevation Worship

Advent ABC: Deliverer

2 Timothy 4:16-18 (Isaiah 51:1-3) The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength … and he rescued me from certain death. Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom.

What deliverance do you need today? Take it to the Lord. He stands with you.

I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

From “St Patrick’s Breastplate”

My Deliverer, Rich Mullins

Advent ABC: Creator and Counselor

Colossians 1:15-17 (Isaiah 40:26-31) Christ is the image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see … Everything was created through him and for him … and he holds all creation together.

It makes sense that Jesus the Creator is called Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6): the one who makes something knows best how it functions and how to care for it!

Creator, Phil Wickham

His Name Shall Be, Matt Redman

Advent ABC: Beloved

Matthew 12:17-21 (Isaiah 42:1-4) This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Jesus: “Look at my Servant whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, who pleases me. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.

I love this description of Jesus, bringing justice with the gentleness that comes with true strength, a love song the Father sings over his son, whom he sees and profoundly knows. It’s a glimpse into the tender affection shared by the Trinity from before time—a relationship that we, incredibly, are invited into.

Jesus My Beloved, Jonathan Ogden

Advent ABC: A Man of Sorrows

Isaiah 53:3 He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

The name “A Man of Sorrows” continues this blog’s series on the book of Isaiah. I’m happy that Isaiah 53 fell on this day. I’m comforted knowing that in the grief so many of us experience more acutely in this holiday season, Jesus comes to us as a man personally acquainted with sorrow. We can come to him just as we are—laying aside our jolly holiday masks—and know that he gets it and walks with us through these bittersweet days.

I Want to Know this Man of Sorrows

Advent begins tomorrow!

But God’s name is powerful

Isaiah 52:6 I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”

Advent begins tomorrow, December 3, and continues until Sunday December 24. Advent means “coming.” These four weeks are set apart in some Christian traditions for reflection on Jesus’ first coming (which we celebrate at Christmas) and to prepare for his second coming, whenever that may take place.

As part of my own observance of Advent, I’ve been thinking about the names and attributes of God in Isaiah, and particularly the names of Jesus. I’ve devised an Advent ABC to share with you each day of Advent with a simple format: One of Jesus’ or his Father’s names, a single verse of Scripture, a two or three-sentence reflection, and a hymn or carol with that theme.

If you experience even a part of the profound worship I have enjoyed preparing this series, I will be thrilled. I hope it will deepen and enrich your focus on the One who left heaven’s glory to take on our fragility, our brokenness, our sorrows, our temptations. Across the universe, through all time, there has never been anyone like him, or a greater mystery.

“What a Beautiful Name It Is”

People-pleasing: What do you think?

But God is our “audience of one”

Isaiah 51:7, 12 Listen to me, you who know right from wrong, you who cherish my law in your hearts. Do not be afraid of people’s scorn, nor fear their insults. … I, yes, I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear?

People-pleasing gets a bad rap. Here’s the first definition that popped up when I googled “people pleaser”: “Generally, it describes a person who consistently strives to please others, often sacrificing their own wants or needs in the process.” The Medical News Today article goes on to discuss signs, risks, and how to stop.

Shutterstock: Ariya J

So I wonder, how does this perspective—people-pleasing is a bad thing that we should stop—line up with Scriptures like John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep”? And 1 John 3:16, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters”?

What do you think?

Be still

But God asks us to listen

Isaiah 50:4-5, 10 The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. … If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.

This will be a busy week. For you, too?

That’s why I had to lie in bed long enough this morning to be still and listen to the Lord, to reflect on the looong list of blessings he has poured into my life (including a wonderful trip to eastern PA and New Jersey to visit beloved friends–we got home last night). Long enough to verbalize that I want to walk through this week with joy and thankfulness instead of stress.

Focused listening isn’t always easy. The last post, I made two confessions. Here’s another:

Sometimes when my husband is talking to me at length about his day, the people he has talked with, the plans he has made with them, the conundrums he faces, I let my own thoughts and concerns distract me.

Later, when he references a prior conversation, I may have only a vague idea of what he’s talking about.

Does this matter? It certainly does when he is asking for my perspective on a situation he believes I already understand because of what he has explained to me before. If I’m to give him any kind of useful feedback, I have to admit my failure to listen and request another explanation—not optimal for him or for me. Or for finding a solution to whatever the current dilemma may be.

How often do I treat God the same way? Let my mind be so busy with my own “stuff” that I fail to hear what he wants to say to me.

A lovely counselor, teacher, and pray-er name Leanne Payne (you can find her books on the internet) used to say, “Listen to the word of love God is always speaking to you.”

My experience bears this out. God is always communicating with us. Are we stopping to listen? Have we learned to quiet our own thoughts enough to hear his still, small voice?

Lying in bed after I wake up in the morning, to hear God’s voice in the stillness, has become a habit. It anchors me into his love. It doesn’t take the place of my “quiet time,” when I read Scripture and pray. Rather, it allows me to benefit from what he has to say to me, without concern yet for what I want to say to him. This focused listening usually results in deep gratitude.

Granted, I have many advantages: an “empty nest”—no children needing my attention early in the morning. No job where I need to punch a clock. No longer the need to get up to check vital signs, administer IV antibiotics, TPN, and fluids, change dressings, attend to hygiene, and drive Karis to the hospital by 6:30 a.m. for clinic. And because I naturally wake up around 5:00, I feel the “right” to spend these moments in bed just listening.

You may not have any of these luxuries.

But unless we figure out some way to make space for stillness in our busy lives (driving to work? cleaning house? taking a walk? taking a few minutes after the kids are in bed?), we miss so much of what the Lord wants to say, to encourage us, to give us clarity about our struggles, to remind us that HE is sovereign, not us. He’s got the whole world in HIS hands. He can dispel anxiety and darkness in our souls with his rays of hope and peace and thankfulness—if we’re still in his presence long enough!

Be still, my soul. The Lord is on your side!

Don’t copy

But God expects US to be light

Isaiah 49:3-4, 6The Lord said to me, “You are my servant, and you will bring me glory.” I [Isaiah] replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.” … And now God says, “I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Matthew 5:14-16 [Jesus said] “You are the light of the world … Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

Philippians 2:14-16 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people, holding firmly to the word of life.

My just-turned-one granddaughter Juliana watches and tries to imitate everything her older sister Liliana does. The second Lili chooses a toy, that’s the one Juju wants. Yesterday Lili climbed into an empty box pretending it was a train car. Of course, Juju immediately had to climb in too, though she had ignored the box until that moment.

It made me think, “Who am I trying to copy? Who sets the standard of behavior for me?”

A confession:

I sometimes get angry and complain about people who don’t know God because they behave like they don’t know God.

How nonsensical is that?

Another confession:

I sometimes feel outrage at people who claim the name of Christ yet speak and live as if they don’t know God’s love and have never taken seriously Jesus’s command to show that love to the world.

But do I look and act any different from the people I judge?

The Lord calls me back, with words like James 1:19-21 and 26, Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires … If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.”

The conversation between God and Isaiah in chapter 49 is one you, like me, have probably had with God at times of discouragement. But the dialogue becomes more interesting as we continue reading, because it seems God is not talking just to Isaiah, but more profoundly, with his own son, Jesus, the true light to the Gentiles. After all, Simeon prophesied over the infant Jesus, “He is a light to reveal God to the nations” (Luke 2:32).

That’s NOT how Paul and Barnabas interpreted Isaiah 49:6, however! In Acts 13:46-47, they tell a crowd in Antioch of Pisidia, “We will offer the word of God to the Gentiles. For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’”

So, it’s a partnership, right? Because it’s the light of Jesus shining in our hearts that we are to reflect to others (2 Corinthians 4:5-7).

Today I’m asking myself, how am I personally doing with being a light and revealing God? If this question doesn’t humble me, nothing will. I invite you, as I am doing today, to read and pray carefully through Romans 12. I think it’s a great description of what living differently looks like.

I’m asking the Lord to shine his light into my soul to reveal my shortcomings, convict me of my need for him, root out my self-righteousness, and fill me with his compassion. I want to imitate the Lord. I want him to be my model. And I want to notice and learn from the ways people in my life reflect his light according to the standards of Romans 12.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you … (Romans 12:2)