Thoughts for the Day

Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you for your own good,
who leads you in the way you should go.
O that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your prosperity would have been like a river,
and your success like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During Advent we shall look at the people, places and symbols that invite us to prepare for the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas. They will not necessarily occur in the right order! Today we look at 'God the Redeemer'.

Prior to the passage above, Isaiah has been criticising the people. He says they are blind to God's purposes and not faithful to Him. Indeed he accuses them of trying to make God into an 'idol'. They have ignored God's desire to spread His mission to the ends of the earth, so they will become a light to the nations. He accuses them of being like a 'stiff-necked' man with a 'brass forehead', in other words they are stubborn and headstrong and want their own way. What they offer Him is insincere. Often they worship him with their lips and not their hearts.

God is motivated by love for His people. It is His love for us that makes Him want us to obey Him. Because He loves us He teaches us and reproves us when we go wrong or ignore Him. God also laments our unfulfilled potential. Isaiah sees in His vision that if the people had obeyed God there would have been peace in both the land and between different people, with both the land and the people growing more prosperous.

Despite our turning away from God, though, He does not desert us. God is our Redeemer, that is He saves us from our sin; He frees us from our slavery to sin; and He reunites us with Himself. This is the meaning behind Christmas that God sent His Son Jesus to live among us, and in due course he was to sacrifice himself to free us from our sin. That is why we examine our souls this Advent.

Father-God,
forgive us the times
that we have turned away from You
and ignored You.
May we learn to live by Your code of love:-
by praising You from our heart,
by listening to Your promptings,
by living a life that reflects Your wishes,
and by loving those who need support.
Amen.