For all of today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Upon the place beneath
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
First Week of Advent
Isaiah 11:1-2
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.
Driving south into Indiana, into Kentucky, into southern Illinois, the sun has been shining and the winter wheat has sprouted and makes for fields of sweet promising green. Grain for us and for our animals.
Further south into Texas and a new sprout named Miles is gaining strength and living life day by precious day. The baby rules. I am so happy to think of him every day while he sleeps and eats, sleeps and eats.
And there is Jesus. So say we Christians, that Isaiah was speaking into the future about Jesus when he wrote this amazing passage. Sprouting from the family of Jesse and blossoming up into the world to save us.
Can you imagine lying in the ground, just a simple seed sitting completely still, waiting for the day when you feel just a tickle of movement on the top of your head? And then a crack that kind of hurts, and then up through the plate of slightly hardened soil, and then … whoosh! Here comes the sun.
What then? How self-protective must I be if all that might just happen? Can I trust the Spirit to protect me? The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord?
If I work back from the end, from fearing the Lord, then of course I’ll trust the Spirit. That’s what “fear of the Lord” allows. That’s what “fear of the Lord” promises. It becomes a synonym for faith, for trust, for hope.
An acronym for fear is “Face Everything, and Recover.” Keep calm, and keep looking up. And as Paul said to the Thessalonians, “DO NOT put out the Spirit’s fire!”
Let your gentle rain from heaven fall on my new green self, Lord. Then let the warmest sun of all warm me way down deep. I am learning to wait for you, to wait out the weather and know how near the sun of God is at all times. Now and always.
http://www.davesandel.net/category/lent-easter-devotions-2016/
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1516
