Category: Morning Musings

Advent Reflections: Psalm 40:1-3

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“I waited patiently for the Lord , and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Misery loves company. This saying is true in a couple of different ways. The first is that someone who is miserable will often try to make the people around him miserable, dragging them down into the much of life with him so that he isn’t alone down there. That’s the more common meaning of the phrase. It is also true, though, that someone who is in a miserable place in life can find hope and comfort by knowing she is not alone in her striving and struggling to get through a hard season of life. The season of Advent is a reminder that even when it feels like all the people around us are leaving us to our own miserable devices, there is one who is always ready to meet us there and bring comfort to us. Let’s talk about it.

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Advent Reflections: Psalm 42:9-11

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“I will say to God, my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?’ My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is your God?’ Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Christmas is the happiest time of the year except when it isn’t. During the Advent season everything is supposed to be perfect. For many people, though, this season is hard. They’ve experienced loss or hurt that makes the season anything other than sweet. The cultural pressure to be happy just makes it harder. What do we do when we’re supposed to be happy, but we’re just not. We go to the Scriptures, and especially the Psalms. Let’s talk about this one and what it has to do with Advent.

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Songs of the Season: Colossians 1:15-16

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“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The idea of gods coming to Earth and posing as humans to be able to interact with their people is not one that was invented by Christians. Indeed, if the gods never interacted with their people at all, they would be far more difficult for us to worship. Many religions across human history, then, have included some sort of a story – and in the case of polytheistic religions, many stories – of gods putting on humanity like a disguise in order to be among their people for one reason or another. But Christianity did introduce to the world the idea of a god becoming fully human. Throughout the Advent season we are preparing to celebrate the fact that God became a man. The ruler and creator of the world took on human flesh as a newborn baby. Today’s song of the season celebrates the wonder of this reality in a powerful way. Here is Manger Throne from Phil Wickham.

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Advent Reflections: Hebrews 6:19

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“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We tried to plant some plants this fall. They died. We tried to keep them alive. We never mean to kill the plants we put in the ground or in pots. We planted these, though, right in the middle of an exceedingly dry spell, and we were so busy that we forgot to water them. Without water, plants don’t tend to make it. Kind of like a plant needs water to make it, our souls need hope. Without hope, we gradually wither up and die. The Advent season is a reminder that hope is available to us. Let’s talk about it as we continue our journey today.

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Advent Reflections: Psalm 150

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“Hallelujah! Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty expanse. Praise him for his powerful acts; praise him for his abundant greatness. Praise him with the blast of a ram’s horn; praise him with harp and lyre. Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and flute. Praise him with resounding cymbals; praise him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah!” (CSB)

Over the course of the various birth and infancy narratives of Jesus in the Gospels, every time someone encounters the baby who was God in human flesh their response is uniformly one of worship. Worship is something we are called to again and again throughout the Scriptures. Yet it often feels like worship can only happen in a limited number of ways. If you don’t happen to fall into one of those categories, too bad for you. Is this really how things are? Not for a second. Let’s talk about worship and Advent and encountering Jesus in the ways God designed us.

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