he comes

Opening Prayer: Get out the message—God Rules!  He put the world on a firm foundation; He treats everyone fair and square.  Let’s hear it from Sky, with Earth joining in, and a huge round of applause from Sea.  Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, animals, come dance, put every tree of the forest in the choir—an extravaganza before God as he comes, as he comes to set everything right on earth, set everything right, treat everyone fair. (Psalm 96:10-13, MSG)

Scripture: Psalm 96:7-13

Journal: What does it do within you to know that not only will God come to redeem, but he will also come to judge?

Reflection: “Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.” (Psalm 96:13)

I don’t know about you, but I often forget during the season of Advent that God comes not only to redeem, but also to judge.  He comes to make everything whole once again, and he also comes to make everything right once again.  And that is actually the thing that causes all creation to rejoice.  The evil and the violence and the hatred and the fear and the oppression and the corruption and the perversion that is so prevalent in our world and our in culture will be done away with once and for all and everything will be just the way he intended it to be.  Now that’s worth trembling over and rejoicing over.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, help us to never forget that when you come it will not be just to redeem, but also to judge.  You come into this dark and broken world, not just to make us whole, but to make everything right once again.  Therefore we, like the earth, should all tremble before you.