Advent Reflections
Looking Forward to His Coming
by Ashley Searle
December 13: AM Psalm 30, 32; PM Psalm 42, 43; Isaiah 8:1-15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18; Luke 22:31-38
Each of us faces many struggles throughout life, some more consistently than others. Each of us has cried out in a moment of frustration and anguish, “God, where are You?!” Too often, we even feel more shame and guilt for questioning our God; in our moments of fear and anxiety, we forget His grace. We need not fear, however; we can instead be grateful for God’s mercy and grace in our moments of weakness and faithlessness.
As we wait in the gap between Christ’s first and second comings, we often focus far too much on the past and present, and far too little on what is to come. Yes, Christ died and rose for us, and this is a beautiful and miraculous thing. Also, Christ lives within us through the Holy Spirit, working to transform us more and more into His image. Yet we must look forward to his second coming with faith, hope, and child-like wonder that we may be strengthened by His promise. Our hope lies not only in what has been done but in the promise of Christ’s return. He has promised that when He returns, He will restore all of creation to its intended state and we shall never need or want again, for all of these things will be fulfilled in Him.
All of this is not to say that we will not have moments of doubt or pain; on the contrary, we shall still experience moments of anxiety and fear. As the psalmist says in Psalm 42:11a, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” So often we stop here, though, in the middle of the story, and live as though it is the end. Let us continue on and look forward to the true completion of the story, to the second coming of our Savior, our Messiah, with the words of Psalm 42:11b on our lips and in our hearts: “Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”
