Today's Readings: Isaiah 29:17–24: Psalm 27: Matthew 9:27–31
As you begin your devotional today, read Psalm 27 in its entirety. As you read this Psalm, note several statements David makes that reflect his desire for God’s presence:
As evidenced by his Psalm, it is clear that David’s desire for God’s presence permeated much of his prayer life. Coming into this Advent Season, Christians would be wise to consider David’s example in prayer and then reflect on our own desires and where we put our ultimate hope and trust. Is David’s desire for and trust in God alone our greatest desire? If that sounds like a familiar question, it probably is! If we have been in church any length of time, we’ve heard the Christmas sermons and challenges. “We love the gifts, not the Giver of gifts.” “Our desire for family is greater than our hope in Jesus.” “That big TV we just bought was potentially bought to soothe our desires for something bigger and greater.” And so on. We have heard all that before. Regardless of how extreme those claims sound, we know there is much truth in them. At the very least, this Advent we must admit that the Holy Spirit may be revealing that many of us find hope in created things rather than in the Creator himself. We feel the conviction. So what is the Christian to do?
The answer lies in the fact that we need to change our desires based on the hope that we have in Christ. This is what David did in Psalm 27 as he experienced God’s presence. And it wasn’t just in Psalm 27. In other places throughout the Psalms and in the Old Testament, we see God’s ultimate faithfulness to David in the hope of a coming Messiah-King that would come through David’s family line (2 Samuel 7:13). This Advent may we find our hope in this same Christ who is “the radiance of God’s glory” (Heb. 1:3), is our “great high priest,” (Heb. 4:14), was tested and tempted like we are and yet was found to be “without sin” (Heb. 4:15), humbled himself by “becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8), and therefore “became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Every year we must reorient our hearts to receive true hope from the only place in which it is to be found - the Creator God himself. While we are tempted to worship created things this season, may the Holy Spirit transform our hearts to desire and find hope in God alone. Anything else will leave us desperately wanting!
