Our Worship
Our Lord is truth itself and love itself. He is righteous and peace both. Enjoy worshipping God today with these great revelations in mind. This Psalm paints a beautiful image of how Jesus personifies and integrates with a kiss grat love and truth, righteousness and peace.
Psalm 85:10-13 Common English Bible (CEB)
10 Faithful love and truth have met;
righteousness and peace have kissed.
11 Truth springs up from the ground;
righteousness gazes down from heaven.
12 Yes, the Lord gives what is good,
and our land yields its produce.
13 Righteousness walks before God,
making a road for his steps.
Our Longings
- What are you bringing to this prayerful time with God today (worries, hopes, fears, etc.)?
- Now midway through our second week, what are you sensing about your biggest desire? What are you most hoping for when He comes? Why do you desire this? What does God think about it?
Allow yourself whatever time is necessary here in prayer to get in touch with this deep longing of your soul while allowing God to speak.
Scripture
Isaiah 40:3-4, Psalm 85:13, Mark 1:1-3, Malachi 3:1-3 Common English Bible (CEB)
3 A voice is crying out:
Clear the Lord’s way in the desert!
Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!
4 Every valley will be raised up,
and every mountain and hill will be flattened.
Uneven ground will become level,
and rough terrain a valley plain.Righteousness walks before God,
making a road for his steps.1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, happened just as it was written about in the prophecy of Isaiah:
Look, I am sending my messenger before you.
He will prepare your way,
3 a voice shouting in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight.Look, I am sending my messenger who will clear the path before me;
suddenly the Lord whom you are seeking will come to his temple.
The messenger of the covenant in whom you take delight is coming,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
Our Meditation
A Voice is Crying Out
Can you hear it? Listen closely. This Voice has been crying out eternally. God has been gazing down from heaven toward you, smiling, and with words of faithful love and truth formed as a kiss on His lips. And now He is calling to you to prepare for His coming.
Can you hear His call amidst all of the other voices in your life?
Which voice is clamoring for your attention?
The problem is we listen to so many other voices than God’s. And these voices can get rather boisterous, right?
There’s the voice calling us to ambitiously pursue all things success so we can prove we matter, the voice that tells us to limit ourselves because we’ll never be good enough anyway, the voice that says true life can only be found through being in love with another person, and on and on and on.
Over time we discover all of these other voices are hard-driving taskmasters. They may sound inviting at first, but they quickly turn to being demanding more than inviting, persecuting more than comforting.
But The Voice is coming
Love spoke us into existence and Love is coming.
The Voice is making a road back to Him
Every step we take away from God creates resistance.
We build our mountains of success, striving for recognition, power and control.
We wallow in our valleys, too afraid to try, too wounded to move.
Every step we take away from The Voice, creates another obstacle between us and God that makes it seem impossible for us to turn back toward Him. Every step God takes toward us removes the barriers between us and God (the obstacles we’ve built!) allowing us to turn.
The mountains we’ve built to distance ourselves from His penetrating Love defiantly and proudly block the way of His coming. The valleys we’ve dug to hide from his revealing grace obscure the path to our hurting hearts.
But Love is making a way. God’s righteousness is walking before Him, creating a smooth path with every step He takes.
We will be face to face suddenly
If we would but turn and take one step toward the level plain, whether we are on a mountain of our making, or hiding in the valley of our own pain, we would find the path has already been made straight.
And suddenly the Lord we have been seeking will come into His temple.
- During this Advent season, as you prayerfully process your deepest longings, where do you sense God has already made a smooth path for you to turn to Him?
- What do you need to leave behind in order to take a step toward Him on this path He has made?
- What is your first step? Will you take that step today?
Intercession
Yesterday, we prayed for just one person to receive the good news of Jesus as Lord. Let’s pray again today that God would make this person’s path straight so that they might hear the good news of this coming King.
A Closing Prayer
Lord God,
I follow so many voices other than yours. And each time I take a step apart from you, I build a little bit of my own kingdom that further separates us and erects obstacles for my ever returning to you. These barriers are by my own hand! Lord, forgive me.
Thank you so much, Jesus, that every step you take toward me smooths the path for me to turn to you.
Amen.
This Evening and Tomorrow Morning
- This evening, continue again to worship through Psalm 80:3 as a personal prayer. Return to this often over this Advent season.
- As you awaken tomorrow morning, awaken to the reality that God has made a smooth path for you to walk just for that day. Pray for the desire, courage and wisdom to follow Jesus on the path He will take through your day tomorrow.
Scriptures from Our Advent Series
Texts for First Advent Week:?Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Texts for Second Advent Week: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; Mark 1:1-8
