In just a few days Advent begins. A special time in the family of faith in which we submerge ourselves into the anticipation of the coming of Emmanuel, God with us. Primarily through the stories and songs (or psalms) in which the emotion is most vividly captured.
For generations the people of God waited with eager expectation for the Messiah King to come and bring fullness to the promise made to Abraham that this small and seemingly insignificant family would be a blessing to the entire world.
Much had transpired since that starry promise back in Genesis. A single family had grown into a nation, and that people had, like all those around them, felt the burden of human survival. Rivalry, greed, violence, coercion, false promises and empty aspirations. Generation after generation passed and the world seemed to pass, sometimes crushingly so, over the 'chosen ones'. And yet, they hoped, longed for, and believed for something more. Psalm 27 is a prayer of anticipation, of expecting God to bring about what he has said he would.
When you read the psalm, do two things. One, try and feel the anticipation of the author. Sense the longing that grounds steadfastness in the midst of overwhelming despair. Can you recognize the clinging grip of certain hope in uncertain times? No emotion is lost in the faithful expectation. Anger, fear, discontentment. Anticipation is birthed neither from naiveté nor numbness. And when you feel what the author is feeling, shout from the depth of sure conviction,
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”
Then think about the well spring of hope that must have been bursting forth when the disciples penned these words,
“And the Word [that’s Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us [Emmanuel], and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” (John 1:14, 16)
What must it have felt like to be the ones who looked upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, literally! Who gazed upon the ordinary beauty of the Lord as a Jewish peasant, and inquired upon the Lord in his dwelling of earthen brick, and dwelt with the Lord along dusty streets? Who sought his face, saw his glory and received grace upon grace!
As you reflect on the certainty of expectation in the psalm and the fulfillment of anticipation in the gospel letter, ask yourself today and throughout this season, Do I believe I too will look upon the goodness of Jesus in the land of the living? I pray that it will be so.
-- Jeremy Pace