Today's Readings: Isaiah 48:17–19; Psalm 1; John 8:13–20
Even with all that God had revealed to the Israelites through his time with them as his chosen people, they were still very familiar with the concept of faith without seeing. Especially, in the time of Isaiah during the Babylonian exile, every Israelite would be looking for deliverance from their current circumstances. This need for deliverance is a constant theme in the story of the Israelite people. From Jacob's family seeking food in Egypt because of famine in the land, and being derived because of where God had elevated their brother Joseph in Egypt, through their time in exile because of the people refusing to obey the commands of God. We see this juxtaposition between the way of the world and the way of God clearly articulated in Psalm 1, where it says:
How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Through this Psalm and what we see in the story of Israel it is clear that faith in God and to trust in His way will result in what is best for us. The Israelites continually rejected God’s way and were punished accordingly, but God was still faithful. God’s faithfulness to his people is evident by his words from Isaiah 48.17-22 as he is instructing His people about when they will leave Babylon. God says this to his people:
This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from my presence. Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow from the rock for them; he split the rock, and water gushed out. “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.
During this time of Advent we can use the story of the Israelites and what we see in the Psalm to instruct us on what it means to faithfully wait on God. The story of Israel gives us an example of an unfaithful people who could not obey God’s commands and in Psalm 1 we see how God promises to be faithful to those who are faithful to him. As we celebrate this time of anticipation for the birth of Christ we should remember to be faithful to our God who is always faithful.
