Advent Devotionals - December 14th

Alleluia
“Alleluia. Alleluia. Stir up thy strength, O Lord: and come and help us. Alleluia.”
 
As our devotionals mentioned a few days ago, we continue with Psalm 80 which pleas for God to do something. To do anything.

There was a time when God led his people actively and visibly. Using clouds of smoke to guide them. The people could clearly see God at work, encouraging them to continue their endurance in hope.

Now God seems to have vanished from his people. There is no sign of him while the enemies of Judah and Israel laugh at them. They have been abandoned and the waters seem calm.

So, they cry out. They beg God to be stirred. To show his strength so that the people of Israel may be mighty again.

As they sit there abandoned, they want nothing more than to see God return.

Even today, we can sometimes feel like God is no longer there. That God has left us to fend for ourselves as we sit their asking God, “stir up your strength, O Lord, and come and save us.”
Here is the good news. God has stirred up his strength. He has saved us.

In this Advent season, we prepare for the King to be born. This King, though born as a weak infant, is the very essence of God’s strength and salvation. God never left his people. Nor did he leave us. But in this season, he comes closer to us. Being more present to his people than ever before, walking the earth in human flesh.

The words of the Proper today are words of desperation and hopelessness. Yet, we know the strength of him whom we call. We know what he has done and will do for us. So, we add these simple words. “Alleluia”. We cry out with joy and happiness as we say these words. Because we know that the King of the Jews is coming.

And with excitement for this stirring of strength, we can do nothing but shout with joy, “come and save us! Alleluia!”

Fr. Spencer Stubblefield