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From the stump
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
First Week of Advent
Isaiah 11:1, 5
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom … Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt around his hips.
God told Isaiah, “The holy seed will be the stump in the land.” Out of that stump, comes the advent of Jesus. Jesus brings justice to the nations. In the power of Jesus’ coming the wolf will lie down with the lamb.
Isaiah sees what looks like heaven. “The earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea.”
How long, O Lord, how long? Do these things come in a lifetime, or a thousand lifetimes? When will the wolf lie down with the lamb? When will all be satisfied by God’s abundance and no longer need protect what they take for themselves?
All satisfied. Not some. Not a few, but everyone. When, Lord? Give us a sign.
What sign do we receive? Thomas Merton wrote that the “sign of Jonas,” the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, is “burned into the roots of our being.” What he meant was that sooner or later we all face the universal truth that only through death to self do we find life. Merton, accepting that fact, said “I find myself traveling toward my destiny in the belly of a paradox.”
God hasn’t given us a time when peace will be like a river to us, when our well-being will be like the waves of the sea. God simply invites us into the mysterious land of spirit, where a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. And Jesus says to his disciples, who are clearly clueless, “Our father has hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to the childlike. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.”
Can this be enough for us? To ride the wave of God’s promise to the end? In every part of our physical lives we expect movement from planting to harvest. We expect growth and progress and improvement and health.
But perhaps none of these are the stuff of wholeness. To be whole is to ride this mystery all the days of my life, to hang on tight and ride the wild ride of faith, which is best described as the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.
Your Spirit, Lord, rests on Jesus, your spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and strength, of knowledge and fear of the Lord. And there is now no harm or ruin on all your holy mountain. Oh how we rejoice in the justice of the Lord. Alleluia.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1397
