A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:3-5
In the wilderness.
In the desert.
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Many of us are familiar with these verses.
They harken back to the proclamation of John the Baptist,
Of the coming of Jesus.
Many of us have fallen in love with Jesus.
Many of us have experienced the gospel in our lives.
Yet many of us have grown idle.
We avoid the wilderness.
We go around the deserts.
The wilderness is harsh and trying.
There are threats and dangers.
It is wild, untamed, unreached.
The desert is dry, void of life.
It is a struggle to just exist in the desert,
Much less try to work there.
Your strength is quickly drained by the conditions of its environment.
It is not life giving.
We avoid it.
Yet this is where God cries out to us go and prepare.
How can we prepare the way of the Lord,
If we do not follow where He wishes to go?
The season of Advent is meant to focus on preparing, waiting, longing.
Yet in our self indulgence we make it about idleness and receiving.
Advent is a season in which you wait,
But it is also a season in which you work.
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Go out into the wilderness.
Go to the places that know Him not.
Go into the desert.
Go into the places void of life.
For that is where He is needed, that is where He desires to go.
His promise is to go with us,
Into the wilderness,
Into the desert.
We will not see mountains be made low if we remain inside our cabin.
We will not see the rough places made smooth if we avoid them.
We must follow into the wild.
We must prepare.
For He is Immanuel
He is God with us
And He will change the world.
I came across this new song the other day.
I can’t stop listening to it.
My favorite part is that it is an invitation.
“Noel, Noel, Come and see what God has done.”
We must go amongst those who do not know,
To prepare the way,
To come see what God has done.
May God open our eyes to see what all He has done:
