Advent
December 10, 2014
Scripture Reading: Psalm 126
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves. — Psalm 126:4-6
The Neqeb, now more often spelled Negev, is the southern more arid part of Israel with rainfalls that vary from 4 to 12 inches a year. When it does rain it comes in downpours that often result in floods. Otherwise the watercourses referred to above were dry much of the year*. This ancient Psalm is no doubt referring to the crops that resulted when adequate rains fell naturally. Today for much of this area the scripture has a whole new meaning as the Negev is now fertile, productive land as a result of the irrigations systems that were installed since Israel became a nation in 1948.
I grew up on a farm located near the intersection of Interstate 35 and State highway 51. I actually remember walking the half mile to watch the building of the new bridge that was constructed on our dirt road when I-35 was being built. My dad told a story of his Grandmother telling him when he was a little boy that someday a big new road would be built running all the way from Kansas to Texas just next to where she lived. I-35 actually cuts through the original homestead she and her husband owned. Dad said he didn’t know what to think about what she was saying when he was a child, but it gave him a funny feeling remembering her saying it as we watched the big machines carve the very path she predicted. Shakespeare probably said it best in Hamlet, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.**
I think there are two truths we can glean from this scripture. The first is that God wants the very best for us, for that is exactly what love is. Thus, God is working day and night to bring to fruition what is really good for us. And second, we should be doing the same thing for the same reason as lovers of God and lovers of our neighbors and ourselves.
Prayer: God of the future, help us see beyond the immediate problems in our lives to your greater plan so that our investment of time and talent will be well focused and in sync with your vision. Amen.
*http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/408071/Negev
** http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hamlet
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.