Let
the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before You, and by Your great might
spare those who are condemned to die. Psalm 79:11
So when God comes near, He always
challenges our fears. This guy went to Mozambique, Africa and few years ago and
had the opportunity to go to an orphanage that was near a dumpster. And the
nuns first took him into a room filled with men weak, thin and dying of AIDS
and then they took him into another room filled with women weak, thin and dying
of AIDS and malaria. The most shocking of the rooms was next, filled with cribs
wall to wall with little babies whose parents were dying.
The guy looked down and saw the cutest
baby in the entire world (except Everette of course) with a round face and
curly hair, and he asked the nun if he could pick her up. The nun said, with
hesitation, that he could. He still remembers the little baby’s name, Muyena.
Muyena wrapped her little legs and little arms around him and buried her head
right into his chest, and then peeked up at him. The nun said something to him
that he would never forget, “Everyone wants to be held by somebody.”
He thought to himself, “How true this
is. The God of the Universe is extending His arms to you and I and saying ‘I
want to be in relationship with you; let Me hold you.” But He also has to say
something else, the same thing He told Zechariah, He told Joseph, He told the
group of shepherds, and He told Mary: “Fear not.” One of the things that keeps
us from engaging in a dynamic, intimate relationship with the God of the
Universe is our fear. Can we really trust Him?
And each of us is held prisoner by our
fear. Well, at least I am. And every morning I leap off of the kitchen counter
of myself into the strong waiting arms of my Father, and He catches me. But
somehow I wiggle free from His embrace and scrabble up again to my precarious
perch of, “Thank you but I would rather be in control.”
And all of the condemnation is
self-inflicted. Jesus came not into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world, through Him, might be saved. And Chris reminded us last night, as we
explored the last advent candle of Peace, that as we wait for His redemption,
the thing about Jesus is that He shows up, no matter on how well we wait,
whether with impatience, apathy, disbelief. His breaking in does not depend on
us.
Peace He gives us. Me. A permanent,
lasting peace that lasts through our transitory lives. Jehovah Shalom: I am
your peace. And may I too wrap my legs and my arms around Him, and bury my head
right into His chest, and peek up at His face.
And this is the blessing I will chose
for today, and Lord Willing every day: “The Lord bless you and keep you; The
Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon
you, And give you peace.”’
Because it is His will. And His
promise.
Thus
says the Lord who made the earth the
Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is His name: Call to Me and I will
answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33:2,3
