Hope in God

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 2, 2020: Wednesday, 1st  week in Advent

Isaiah 25: 6-10; Matthew 15: 29-37

Hope... what a time to think of this! The pandemic is almost getting one year old...and the whole of the globe has been visited by this treacherous virus... sicknesses, deaths, loss of jobs, lack of means, migrants stranded...how many things have happened within this one year. And added to this the usual ills of humanity!

At these kind of moments, despair can get the better of us. The whole heated discussion of the rising level of intolerance in India (and even elsewhere), the neglect of the poor, struggle of the farmers, the plight of the middle class and the insensitive politics and all that is happening in the society is yet another despair inducing scenario. The increasing conditions of inhumanity and violence in the world and the lack of transparent and righteous coalitions against evil, is an alarming state of affairs! 

It is against this background that the Word speaks today: the Lord will wipe the tears from every cheek and will feel God's people to fulfillment. That is hope... to say, God will act on my behalf. Just imagine what it means to say that...

God... to think of God, feel God's nearness and relate to God from the depth of one's heart.

God will... yes, God will...it may take time, it may delay, but God will. It is part of the hope to say, God will act in God's own time.

God will act... God is not a passive onlooker...God acts on my behalf and I need to let God do so, to act on my  behalf, to direct me, and to take me along, like a Shepherd, with love and care!

God will act on my behalf...I am loved and I am cared for. My God, my Shepherd does not abandon me any day in any way! God will act on my behalf, all I need is to wait in hope, on the Lord

Christian living and thinking is all about hope. Waiting for the Lord is all about hope. Hoping in the Lord is not a leap in the dark, it's seeing the light that comes through or being determined to pick up the first streak of light that pierces through. Hope makes us authentically Christians... fear strips us of it!