Advent 19

The Third Friday of Advent 2008, December 19, 2008

Isaiah 10:5-19 

By my own might have I acted and in my own wisdom I have laid my schemes… 

The speaker is the king of Assyria, whom Yahweh used to punish wayward Israel; but this tool of God is not a partner of God.  He believes himself to be invincible.  He is guilty of pride, and he’s about to take a tumble. 

The Assyrian king was a pagan and may be excused; but what about our leaders?  They all know about God, at least; but do they know that in partnership with the Creator, one cannot lose?  This is true for us, as well.  Do we know this?  If we daily commit our lives and deeds to Yahweh, we can arrive at each day’s end, guilt-free and serene.  Not necessarily prosperous and happy, but calm and at peace. 

For a year or so, adrift in grief, I ended my prayer time with, “I put myself into your hands today, Lord.”  I was ragged from losing my husband and in a very difficult job, but I flung myself into God’s hands each morning before I got dressed, counting on my Creator to get me through whatever messes came up.  And He did.  I quietly survived paranoid accusations of insubordination, public and ugly, with His strong, loving arms holding me snug. 

Once, after our parish annual meeting, I exploded, calling a mean-spirited woman a hideous word.  Even then, in my ugliness, I felt those strong arms holding me tightly.  Somehow that show of temper was not devastating because I had deliberately placed my life and actions in God’s hands that morning, before church.  I apologized, but I did not wring my hands with guilt, did not sink into darkness. For that year, it was as if all I did each day, good or bad, was in Christ, filtered and made clean—and because I had acted intentionally, hiding in His love, I believed it, utterly. 

Might this be a way to Peace?  Peace, first, for the one responsible for a nation; but then peace for the people of the nation, knowing that the Creator is the Partner, and the leader is held tightly, and all will be well? Might this individual leader’s peace trickle down to the people? 

Better, yet, could all of us place ourselves, daily, into the loving arms of our Creator, and being at peace with ourselves, become instruments of Peace?