My Advent Devotion

 Isaiah 40:1-5

“Prepare ye the way of the LORD; make his paths straight…Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain shall be made low; then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed.”

 

In the note next to this passage in my student Bible it says that beginning in this passage, Isaiah’s emphasis has moved toward comfort and that comfort will ultimately come through God’s arrival, which we should prepare for. That one word stuck out to me as I read the passage and the note over and over: comfort.

 

I used to think of my faith as comforting. I fell back on it in times of celebration or concern, in times of stress or skepticism. The words on the pages of my Bible comforted me. My prayers comforted me. Worshiping comforted me. But now, I’m not as comforted. I’m not as consoled when I pray. I have a harder time quieting my soul, voicing my prayers, lifting my praise. I definitely get the sense that I’m in this desert Isaiah describes, but I’m not so sure how to prepare the way for the Lord anymore.

 

Health issues. Employment issues. Creative issues. Political issues. Violence. War. Fear. Terror. All of this and more starts to untether us from our faith. To do the exact opposite of comfort us. And yet, we are directed to work harder, prepare more, raise up every valley, lower every mountain. 

 

That. 

Is. 

Overwhelming. 

 

All of it. 

 

And yet, while I start to feel untethered, just by coming back to the Bible, by coming back to these words, by coming back to the shortest and least descriptive prayers I pray in the middle of the night, I know, deep down, that I am still tethered. We all are. We believe. We love because He first loved us. 

 

And so, we get to work. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we feel empty down to our soles. Even when we don’t have an inch left to give. We get to work. 

 

We know that God will always be there for us, even when we feel less than comforted. We know that God will always be there for us, even when we feel judged. We know that God will always be there.

 

And so, we prepare the way for Him. We open our hearts. We take another breath and the tiniest step toward him. And that is all we have to do. 

 

Preparation can be comfort. It can be a reminder that despite what the world around us might look and feel like, it’s what’s in our hearts that matters. Our love matters. God’s love matters. 

 

So, we prepare…because He’ll be back. That baby always comes back to share His hope. Thank God, literally. 

 

 

Prayer:

Thank you, God. Thank you for the smallest, and the biggest, reminders of what you can do, of who you are, and of how you comfort us, day in and day out, even when we forget.  Amen.