GOD'S DESIGN

'Behold, days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she shall be called: the Lord is our righteousness.'
(Jeremiah 33: 14-16)

Jeremiah was speaking to the people of Israel in a very trying period of their history. It can't have been an exactly joyful job to be the Lord's prophet at a time when His people were facing terrible challenges. But Jeremiah's words from the Lord are that God has a plan, a design. He had made a promise long before about His plan to raise up a Messiah. And God's Messiah would come from a specific lineage, that of King David.

God takes the long view. He lays out His plans over long stretches of time. I look at these words from Jeremiah, and I think about the length of time from the days of David to those of Jeremiah, and then the passage of time from Jeremiah to the birth of Jesus. That's a really long time.

But God had a specific design in mind. And He made it happen. Jesus was born of the lineage of David.

Elsewhere in Jeremiah we are assured that God has plans for each of us, plans for a hope and future. That's something I hold on to, particularly right now. But these present verses remind me that God's view of time and fulfillment aren't necessarily going to be the same as mine. That's not an easy thing to deal with.

And then there is also what Jeremiah declares to be the purpose of the Messiah -- to execute justice and righteousness on the earth.

I think we all consider justice and righteousness to be worthy things on a societal level.These days we certainly hunger to see more of them. But I don't think they're always the things we look for on the personal level. We do think about justice when we are wronged, or when someone near to us is wronged. But do we think about righteousness? We focus a lot on what is legal. But our commitment to "what is right" is often selective - this cause or that issue.

We'd rather hope that God's plans for us are about fulfilling our comfort.

These verses are a challenge to me right now. I have some basic needs that I have to believe God will address. He has promised to provide, after all. But here in Advent, these verses remind me that there is a much bigger picture than just my needs. God's plans for the coming of Jesus were not shaped around the purpose of making me comfortable. Instead, they were shaped toward bringing justice and righteousness to the world.

If I take these verses with the previous meditations, the call to step outside my own concerns gets stronger. We're called to be part of the bigger picture, to take part in the events that God is unfolding. And the action He is shaping it all toward isn't necessarily about making us comfortable. It's about making us and the world around us more righteous.

That's a long way from the "warm fuzzies" of our usual perception of Christmas.