“Here is your God! Here comes with power
the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm ...”
All this preparation of the Advent season moves toward a single goal—making
way for the Lord, who comes in power. But how will He come? What will His power be like as it becomes
manifest? “Like
a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs ...”
The power of God becomes manifest in the tender scene of gathering the
lambs.
And this
truth “takes on flesh” in Jesus. Like
a shepherd in search of a lost sheep, Jesus comes to reveal the One who sent Him:
“…it
is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be
lost." (Matthew 18:12-14). None will be lost; each particular individual
remains the focus of His search.
What a great
reflection for Advent! Who, among those
we know and love, is lost? Where do we
seem most lost today? What part of our hearts, of our lives, appears
weakest? The Lord seeks out with great
particularity those individuals and those parts of us which are most in
need. “Here is your
God!” in this
person, in this place. “Here
comes with power the Lord God.”
Several years ago, my mother-in-law
was cleaning out some closets and came across a couple of WWII vintage army
blankets that belonged to my father-in-law.
One was in excellent shape and the other had a slight tear on one
edge. We decided to keep the good one as
a memento, but we put the other in a bag, hoping to drop it off at a homeless
shelter, because they can always use blankets.
I put it in the trunk of my car and forgot about it.
About a month later, I was sitting in my
office looking out the window as the wind blew and the rain was getting heavy
from a cloudburst, and I saw him. We’ve
all seen him—he’s pushing a shopping cart or carrying a black trash bag and
rummaging through trash bins and landscaping looking for recyclables that he
can turn into cash. He’s in every city
in the country. That day he poked his
head into my office. "Do you have
any cans or bottles I can take off of your hands today?", he asked rather
pleasantly. I replied "Sorry, not
today!" hoping (I'm sorry to admit) he would beat a hasty retreat back
outside where he could "bother" someone else.
He started out the door then turned back
toward me and said, "Do you mind if I wait out the storm in here? It's kind of cold and wet out there and I
don't have a coat." I suddenly
remembered the blanket that had been sitting in my trunk. "Come with me", I said. I took him out to my car and opened the
trunk. I handed him the army blanket and
said, "I've been waiting for you".
He said "Wow! This is
great! I don't have a blanket. It's awfully cold some nights." I also had in my trunk a coat that I didn’t
wear very often because of some slight tears in the fabric. I handed that to him as well and said,
"God bless you, I think this will fit you."
With that, he started walking off (I
think) with his head held a little higher than when I first met him ten minutes
earlier.
What a loving God we have that guides His sheep to those who can supply just what they need when they need it!
No comments:
Post a Comment