Advent Devotion for Monday, December 16
By Kent Felgner
Read Isaiah 35:1-6
Yummy Oreos. How do you eat the world’s most popular selling cookie? Dunked in milk? Deep fried? Kicked up with caramel sauce? Or, do you prefer to split them apart and go for the cream filling in the middle? Today’s poetic prophet takes that route–the middle is where it’s at!
Notice how skillfully these passages are put together. The bookends picture creation. The desert and the wilderness are being transformed: the wilderness blossoms and the dry sands gush with streams. The wonder of it! And again, the next layer of verses tells us that humanity is being changed: hands, knees, heart are made strong, eyes, ears, limbs, and tongue are healed. Listing seven elements, our transformation is complete. How? Look to the middle.
At the center (v. 4), announces the prophet, here is your God. God is showing up and watch what happens! As the people of God fear and love Him (He comes with vengeance and to save), amazing things are possible.
Our Advent message is that God showed up in Jesus so that the new has come! May our eyes and ears be open to discover what God is doing in the world around us beyond our expectations. And may we too be part of this work, that the world might be transformed through us, signs of the kingdom of God to those who might be watching, waiting, in need.
We pray: Heavenly Father, just as You stood in the center of these verses, be the center of our lives. May Your transforming kingdom work continue through us, to the glory of Your Son–our Emmanuel. Amen.
