Reflection
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Israel had been waiting for the Messiah, the king God had promised. They had spent years in slavery and captivity and decades wandering through the desert. They were longing for a Savior, for a reason to hope. I don’t know about you, but that last part really resonates with me this year. The last 18 months have held a lot of loss, grief, and pain for my family. My father passed away a little over a year ago and my father-in-law a few weeks ago. Losing someone you love is hard. It just is.
In a song you’re about to hear, there is a part that says:
Here I wait in hope of you
All my soul’s longing through and through
Dayspring from on high be near
Daystar in my heart appear
In a way, like the nation of Israel, I feel like I’m waiting, longing for hope. When we’re hurting and life feels heavy, it’s sometimes hard to imagine joy returning. It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel or the day when we might move from the valley to the mountaintop. The thought that we might someday “get over it” can feel unimaginable. Sometimes, there’s nothing to do but wait.
God’s people, the nation of Israel, had waited for generations. And when the Messiah came, it was nothing like they expected. They wanted a king, and God sent a baby. They wanted to wage war on Rome, and instead they got the Prince of Peace. They wanted to be vindicated as God’s chosen people, but Jesus came to choose everyone.
Their longing—their hope—was not fulfilled the way they wanted it to be. But what happened was so much better. Jesus came, fulfilling all the promises God made and more. He introduced a new promise, a new covenant with his people, and made a way for everyone to come to God. God’s people didn’t get exactly what they hoped for… they got so much more. But it took trust and time to be able to see it that way.
And I guess that’s where I am this Christmas. I’ve been waiting, longing for God to restore joy and laughter and hope in my heart and in my home. But those things likely won’t come in the way I expect them to. And that’s okay. I’m waiting. I’m waiting in hope of Jesus and his way of healing what’s broken. He doesn’t waste our suffering. He can make it into something better. He is the Dayspring from on high who draws near to the brokenhearted. And he can be trusted even on the hardest of days, because when Jesus came, he brought the only thing that could offer any hope at all… he brought himself.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you are someone we can put our hope in, and some of us really need that hope right now. Give us the strength we need during hard times and allow us to lean into the hope we have in you. Amen.
