The mornings are dark, wet and cold.
I wake in the dark and wait for the first silver-grey signs that Dawn is on the way. Often scriptures wake up within me, as I am sure they must do for many reading this. We are now 7 full days into Advent and nearly at the end of 2020 which has surely earned more than one page in the World History in a day and age where there are no shortages of either chroniclers or media in which to record the events as they unfold. Do you recall this word from Ecclesiastes who complained,
“All things are wearisome” (chapter 1.v8)
“There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance
Among those who come later still.”
Ecclesiastes chapter 1. 8, 11.
Sounds a dismal fellow, doesn’t he this Preacher who grew very wise because he was so thoughtful and took care to remember. He says about that (v 13) that it is a grievous task which God has given the sons of men to be afflicted with, and I think as time goes on that when those personal memoirs appear on bookshelves and in media archives there are many who will give a little shudder and pass them over .. for something brighter, cheerful less solemn, and leave it to the scientists and statistics people to make sure it never happens again.
This is the way of the world. The world forgets easily those things which are wearisome and doesn’t take easily to grievous tasks
The world can be forgetful.
I say that with sorrow. The world is full of people who need comfort at this time, it needs comfortable words. And yet, those who live in comfort and are comfortable ought not to forget those who have no such comforts as food, clothing, shelter or medicine, or those trying to find a refuge from poverty, or war. This is one of the messages of Advent which is not so popular, but rather grievous and wearisome to bear. Such unpopular, grievous, wearisome messages have been delivered by God’s faithful messengers down through millennia. Are they being unheard today?
May the Lord bless those who He finds faithfully hearing, remembering and acting on His word, when He comes.
‘So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
2 Peter 1.19
Lord, when you come,
As you will come,
Silently, and in the night,
May I be found
Watchful, wakeful and trusting.
May I be found as one with a loaf of bread to spare
For a traveller in need, a coat to give away,
Straw for a Manger bed;
A lamp to hang up high
That no feet slip in the dark, cobbled alley of
Forgetful Street.
Jean
All scriptures taken from N.A.S.B.
Fresh Whispers 