My Advent meditations from yesterday and today deal with two different topics and yet the same idea. Yesterday's reading came from Isaiah, and the meditation reflected on not only Judah's but also our need for a Savior. And this Savior came not as people expected: triumphant, kingly, with a sword in His fist. Instead He was lowly, clothed in human flesh, born of a woman. A baby. He became one of us to save us.
Today's meditation began by recounting the lineage of Jesus (which, for some reason this Christmas season, I keep coming across this geneology in different messages/sermons/meditations, etc.). The point was made that this lineage is full of unknowns, sinners, outsiders. There are a plethora of imperfect people leading down the line to Christ.
The idea that keeps coming back to me this Christmastime, no less so in the aforementioned readings, is that our God is not one who does things according to our human expectation. He is a God whose ways are so much higher than our ways and whose thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts. And, strangely, the older I get the more comfort I take in this thought. I don't want a God that I can understand and figure out because what kind of God would that make Him? Certainly not all-knowing, all-powerful, if puny me can dissect His ways and reasoning. I love that God blew open all expectations of the Messiah, all preconceived ideas of rescue and salvation by sending a tiny baby boy born in a cold, deserted stable, descended from a sordid line of truly human beings. This gives me a feeling of safety in His loving hands, during those times when life does not go along as I expect it to and as things do not work out according to my expectations, knowing that God's plan, though difficult for me to see and understand, will be perfectly executed in His time.
2 comments:
I too have been hearing about Jesus's lineage from coffee break and Matthew's Begats in a C.D. It has been comforting for me to hear the lineage. Especaiily that prostitues and sinners were/are accepted. So often I feel that I am not worthy and the bible shows me over and over again that I am. GOD BEING SOVERIGEN is so comforting to me as well. I don't need to know everything. Or why things happen. He is in control and I just need to pray and trust. Last week I was mainly concerned about my budget and how I was going to make the Christmas gifts "happen." Thank you for reminder again what this season is truly about. I always knew but tend to get lost in all the "responisiblitiles."
It's so funny that the older I get, on so many levels, I become comfortable with the unknown. It is there that I find humility to truly learn and listen from others. I need to relate this better to my spiritual life and become more humble as well as more comfortable there....
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