Waiting for the Glory of God
It is the Christmas season. With the snow that we had today, it it hard to miss that December 25th is just around the corner. . . Now all we have to do it wait, but waiting is never easy.
“A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him” (Isaiah 11:1-2). Henri Nouwen makes this great observation about this verse: ”Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness. . . Somehow, I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God’s saving power; but over and over again I am reminded that spectacles, power plays, and big events are the ways of the world. Our temptation is to be distracted by them and made blind to the ’shoot that shall sprout from the stump.’ When I have no eyes for the small signs of God’s presence–the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends– I will always remain tempted to despair” (Seeds of Hope: A Henri Nouwen Reader, Second Edition (Image Books, 1997): 156-157.
Another place where we can see the glory of God is in the actions of Jesus. In John 9, he anoints a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus stopped, spit on the ground, made a mud paste and told the man to go and wash. When he did as Jesus asked, his eyes were filled with light. He could see for the first time. The disciples of Jesus saw this man as a problem that needed to be solved. ”Who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus said, “Just wait. The light has come into the world. I will show you the greater purpose of his blindness.”
Have you seen God’s glory? Has God taken your weakness and turned it completely inside out? Perhaps this Christmas season the Lord will bring comfort and transformation to your life. It may come from the most unlikely of sources.
