Read Micah 4:6-13.
In this season of Advent, while we look forward to Christ and the promise of salvation, we still struggle and deal with our personal “captivity.” We are easily distracted and sometimes feel forgotten. Often, we seem helpless in our current situation. We wait for God to save us from danger, just as Israel had. Many times, throughout Israel’s history, she was conquered, beaten, battered, and tossed aside with no sense of kingdom or belonging. We see God’s people cry out for redemption and protection, and in God’s response, there is not only the promise of rescue, but the assurance that these trials are part of the rescue mission. God is refining the people to be the army of the Lord. Just as Jerusalem was captured and conquered, time and time again, so are we with our daily lives and personal struggles.
This passage paints a beautiful picture of that rescue. While we are left cast off and exiled, God is building the kingdom with us at the center. The kingship will come to Jerusalem once again. While we cry out in pain and agony, God is pulling us out from our captivity and putting us in open fields, outside the hands of our enemies. God’s plan is completely unknown to whatever holds us hostage, ensuring our safety.
Time and time again, God comes to the rescue, and this rescue is two-fold. Not only does God come and break us free from captivity, our captors are destroyed and laid in ruin. God’s rescue mission includes the promise that we will forever be free from what oppresses us. This season of Advent, we wait for the inevitable rescue through Christ. We are reminded that our present situation is part of the mission, and that we are no longer subject to the same slavery. Christ will and has come to deliver us into God’s kingdom, a refined and unified people in the name of Jesus.
Matthew Starnes, PSF @ MTSU
Words for Waiting 