4th Monday of Advent (December 22). It’s not up to us

Prepare to Listen.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
 
Prayerfully Read Isaiah 9:2-7
2The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
    on them light has shined.
3You have multiplied the nation,
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.
4For the yoke of their burden,
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
    and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7His authority shall grow continually,
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What caught your attention as you read this lesson from Isaiah?
 
A reversal of circumstances: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”  Here darkness isn’t necessarily sin, but rather anything that causes suffering, hardship or despair.  Defeated and in exile, Israel experienced darkness.  They were powerless, unable to help themselves.  And it was to these powerless and helpless people that God’s light came.  Light, linked to God’s glory, is the visible evidence of God’s splendor, majesty and sovereignty.[1]
 
The good news of a reversal of circumstances is this: God comes to people who “sit in darkness,” the oppressed, suffering, hurting, and not to the powerful.  Rescue for those in darkness was on its way.  But the rescuer, the savior, was a baby, not a popular grown-up hero.  A baby still needs to grow.  This means Israel must wait for the reversal.
 
God often works in seemingly slow ways using unexpected and lowly means.  The wait is worth it.  The surpassing greatness of this baby is spelled out in his names, “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Christians now equate this baby with Jesus, God’s chosen and anointed Messiah.  His coming changed everything, restored justice and righteous, that is, he “properly deployed social power.”[2]  He, and not the power of human might, will make and keep the nation and the world safe.  It’s not up to powerful leaders or military might or human strength to do this.  Only “the zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”
 
Why do you suppose God sent a baby rather than an experienced powerful leader?  What does this teach you about God?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Your zeal, Lord of Hosts, will do what you promised.  Help me rest in the assurance of your zeal, rather than conjuring up my own.  May I live, confident in your work in the world and my life today.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Trust the Lord to renew and restore the world.
[1] Brueggemann, W.  Isaiah 1-39.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998, p. 82.
[2] Ibid., p. 84.