waiting for redemption

Opening Prayer: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

     If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

     I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

     O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. (Psalm 130:1-8)

Scripture: Psalm 130:1-8

Journal: How are you longing for redemption?  How are you waiting on the Lord for it?  How will you put your hope in the Lord in the meantime?

Reflection: There is a deep yearning within each of us for all things to be made right, to be exactly who and what they were intended to be when they were whispered into being.  Unfortunately, this side of heaven, what we experience is something far less than that.  Our world is woefully and irreparably broken.  Things have gone—and continue to go—terribly wrong.  They are spinning out of control and, as much as we might try, there is very little we can do about it.  Things are just too far gone.  We can’t fix it ourselves.  

     Where is the hope?  Where is the hope that somehow, someone might be able to redeem this mess?  Where is the hope that somehow, someone might make things back into the way they were created to be?

     And it is not just what we see around us that is the problem.  It is also what we see within us.  We are not immune to, or innocent of, this brokenness.  In fact, if we are really honest, we contribute to it in a major way.  Our “record of sins” is no shorter than the next man.  “Oh they may not be quite as extreme,” we tell ourselves, but who are we kidding.  Our list is so long—and getting longer by the minute—that we cannot possibly make it all right again.

     Thankfully we do not have to.  That is where God comes in.  He is the one that is filled with unfailing love.  He is the one that, in spite of our own ugliness and brokenness, offers full redemption.  We just have to put our hope in him.  We just have to wait for him like a watchman waiting for the morning.  For he will come, and when he does, we will be forgiven.  He will fully redeem us—and the world—from all our sins.  Thanks be to God.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: We await your redemption, O Lord, your full redemption.  More than watchmen wait for the morning, we wait for you.  Our list is long, O God, oh so long.  We have no hope of redeeming ourselves, our only hope is in you.  Our hope is in your unfailing love.  Redeem us, O Lord, from all of our sins.  Make us right and whole once again.  Make all things into what you intended them to be.  Lord, have mercy.  Amen.