I Wonder

This past Advent season, during our church corporate confession time, the words we spoke together ended with, “Remind us that this is a season of waiting and preparing, of remembering Your first coming even as we pray for Your second coming.”

 

Every time I pray that, I question—do I? Do we?

 

Do we actually say to Him, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”? (Revelation 22:20b)

 

I wonder. Are we not yet too uncomfortable in this land of the living to plead for His return? It was when the Israelites moaned and cried out to be rescued and when that cry of help ascended to God that He was moved to take action. (Exodus 2:23-25 The Voice)

 

I wonder. Do we dare to suppose that Simeon and Anna both were so much in anticipation for the Advent of their Messiah that daily they pleaded for His coming? (Luke 2)

 

I wonder. What would happen if we lived in recognition that this world is just a fleeting thing and we got to the work of prayer instead of all the other fluff we fill our lives with? That’s what it appears Anna and Simeon did.

 

I wonder. Would our prayerful anticipation of the Lord’s coming break down all that keeps us attached to this life so that we actually live in eagerness for the next?

 

I wonder. Would that eagerness cause us to echo what the shepherds did so many years ago? Would we spread the story of the first Advent with praise and then glorify God that He keeps His promises so that those who are without hope see our joyful faces and run to Jesus, too?

 

I wonder.

The One who testifies to these realities makes this promise: The Anointed One:

Yes. I am coming soon. To which we say,

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

Revelation 22:20 (The Voice)