Our responsibility - prepare the way for the Lord

I would like tonight to touch base on a point that I think is very important, on this path that leads us to the manger. And I wanted to reflect on Isaiah, chapter 40, it is one of the best known texts this Christmas season. Isaiah 40, the first verses, which says:

“…Console yourselves, comfort yourselves my people, says your God, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, tell her out loud that her time is fulfilled, that her sin is forgiven, that she has received double from the hand of Jehovah for all her sins. Behold the voice that cries out in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight a highway in the solitude for our God, that every valley be raised and every mountain and hill be lowered and the crooked be straightened and the rough smoothed out and glory will be manifested of the Lord and all flesh shall see it together because the mouth of the Lord has spoken..."

This passage speaks to us of a voice that cries out in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight a road in the solitude for our God. And whenever I come across this text I tell myself how curious it is that in the deserts of this world in which we live and even more so in the deserts of our own lives, we are given the great responsibility of preparing a path for it and of give entrance to the great king, the king of kings and Lord of Lords.

It is a call to reverse things, it is a call to go in a whole new direction. It is a call to a new way of living. And he says it right there in the text, when he says that every valley be raised, imagine that, you are seeing a valley and what he is saying is that this valley be raised, it is like saying that a mountain arises in the middle of that valley. And that the mountains are flattened, it is like turning things upside down. What was flat before is raised, and what was high before is flattened.

What was crooked must be straightened and what was rough must be smoothed in some way or another. It's like going against the norm, against what everyone else is following. It's going in a totally new direction, it's thinking in a totally different way about things. Imagine how you are going to flatten a mountain. Unless you have dynamite and you blow it up and make a street or something, but all of that requires work, requires responsibility, requires you and me to do something.

He is not saying that this king's army is going to come to do things, he is saying that we have to do it. The responsibility is given to us to prepare that way for the Lord. And that path has to be prepared in the deserts of our life. This message is coming to the people of Israel in a time of captivity, in a time where they were being oppressed by nations that were 'bigger than them, in a time where perhaps they did not see hope at the end of the tunnel. They did not see where their help was going to come from, but nevertheless, at that moment God brings this word. Take comfort, take comfort my people, because God has heard you.

What a beautiful word! In the midst of all the frenzy, you can hear that voice that says, console yourselves, calm down, don't worry, don't lose peace, don't lose focus, God has not forgotten you. God is very attentive to your life condition, God is very attentive to the needs that you may have. And in those moments he brings this word, there is something I want to do. I want to bring a new portion of my glory to your lives, an extremely important portion because we are talking about the fact that he is the Son of God, that is the gift that he is going to bring.

But he is saying that you have to prepare the way, I cannot do it for you, you have to prepare it. And how does one prepare the way? How do we do it? How do we prepare for such an assignment? How do we prepare to receive the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? We could then consider this Christmas story where the angel Gabriel presents himself to the Virgin Mary. Do you remember that story?

Luke, chapter 1. Look how he reads the story, I love reading this story. Luke, chapter 1, in verse 26:

“…In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin, betrothed to a man named Joseph, from the house of David. And the name of that virgin was Mary – all the Marys here can be identified with her in some way or another – and the angel entering – imagine this movie, imagine that you are watching a scene from a movie where this angel Gabriel enters, full light, resplendent, maybe twice or triple the height of Maria, that Maria we know was a young girl, she was a teenager if you will. – When he enters he tells her, Hail highly favored, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was disturbed, confused by his words and said, what kind of greeting is this? What is this input? What is it that you want to tell me? Then the angel said to her, Mary, do not be afraid, for you have found grace before God, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. But Maria in her confusion, in her ignorance did not know what else to think, what else to say, and she could only ask, and how will this be? How is this going to happen if I have not known a man, I have not had relations with any man? Don't worry, this is a mystery, God will take care of it. And that is where we find these words that serve as inspiration to all of us, what is impossible for you, is possible for God…”

How can we prepare, my brothers? I tell you, it is a mystery. God is a very clear God but at the same time he is a mysterious God, because God makes things out of what he is not. God just utter something, arises. And that no one can explain. Science cannot explain it, medicine cannot explain it, they are mysteries of God. And those mysteries of God somehow or another come into our lives at different times, at different stages. These mysteries of God come close to us and many times we cannot understand them, we cannot conceive them and as Maria says, and how is this going to be? They give us a diagnosis of a disease and they come crying for you, don't worry, God will heal you. How is this going to be?

You are in a financial mess and you don't know where the next check is going to come from, ah, let's pray that God will provide. And a part of you might say, yes, I trust God, but how is this going to be? I like to use this example too, your husband, your wife, there are times when they have a competition for who is the one that can cause the other the most headache, and you are praying for your spouse continuously and you ask yourself, Lord, how will this be? How will that word be that you tell me that things are going to change?

From parents to children, or with other relatives, even with brothers within the church, and we wonder what this will be like? And that, how will this be, my brothers, often represents those stages of desert, of confusion, where we sometimes find ourselves alone and those places, those moments do not allow us to clearly see how things are going to happen later. But that is where the power and mystery of God is perfected.

That is where God intervenes in some way or another. It is in those moments when you cannot understand what is happening that the promise of the impossible comes into your life. And it doesn't come from any man or any woman, it comes from God. For you it is impossible but for God it is not.

You know that you and I like to know everything, right? we like to know everything, we want to have a financial plan to resolve our debts, and we want what we are going to do each year with our finances. If we want to move from one house to another, we make plans for how we are going to do it. When we want to go on vacation we make plans of when we are going to go, how much we are going to spend, where we are going to go, who we are going to go with. We make plans for everything. We like to know everything, because knowing gives us a sense of control.

We even want to know the latest gossip and joke too, sure, we want to know everything. But many times not knowing everything is what God wants. That's where God wants us to be, that's where Maria was, in a place where she didn't know everything. That was where the people of Israel were, at a time, at a stage in their lives where they did not know everything. More yet, in that very vulnerable place, in that place of supposed ignorance, that is where God's promise comes and reaches you, and begins to shed light on your life and begins to direct you in the direction that he wants you to go. .

It is not the direction you want to go, although many times God allows you to go in that direction, but when God sees that your direction is going in a direction that God does not want, or that God intends for you, God goes to charge, as the psalm says, to straighten your steps and bring you once again to the path that he wants for you.

Being able to open ourselves to those mysteries of God requires humility on our part, it requires that, like Mary, we can say, behold, the servant, the servant of God, be done with me as God wants. I don't know everything, I don't know where the answer is around the corner, but it's around the corner and I'm going to wait for it. It requires being able to confront the impossible, the impossible within ourselves, the impossible within our families, the impossible in the society in which we live, it requires confronting the impossible. But not face it alone, but face it with the confidence of that promise that the God of the impossible is with us. And he is the one who is in charge of opening doors, and above all things, my brothers, on that way to the manger, it requires being able to contemplate with expectation that hope that is to come, that hope that comes with Christmas. Something new is born at Christmas, for a reason they tell you that it is the best time of the year. Something new is born there.

And I believe that this is something that God brings. So I encourage you, my brothers, let's reflect on these things. Only God knows what he wants to direct us to, in these Wednesday services, when we are reflecting on these things, only God knows what he wants to direct us to, where he wants us to go. Later we will think about the different characters in this story who arrived at the manger, that each one of them has their own life experiences, but nevertheless each and every one of them, when they arrived at the manger, their lives were transformed.

I believe that on our journey of faith, on our journey to the manger, my expectation, my hope, that when we get there our lives will be transformed according to God's purposes and designs for each one of us. So I encourage you, brothers, let's focus our minds on this, yes plan the meals that you are going to make, the gifts that you are going to buy, that is part of the season, but do not forget in the center of all things, the true meaning of all these days that are to come.

So I encourage you, we are going to stand up, we are going to pray and we close this time to the Lord with these words. Dear God, we thank you for your word, Lord, thank you for this time tonight, everything we have managed to do, everything we have managed to pray, Lord. And we know that our prayers do not stay on the roof, Lord, but come before your presence. You are very aware of each one of them, Lord. I ask you, Jesus, that in this journey that we are launching now, in these next Wednesdays of reflecting on your arrival as King in our lives, we ask you, Lord, that our hearts may be open, open and receptive to what you have for us, Lord.

And may your word continue to echo in the midst of our hearts. I ask your blessing on each one of my brothers and sisters tonight, Lord, your blessing on the Serrano family and all their friends who are here, Jesus, and that your grace, your favor, continue with us, Father.

Take us safely to our homes, protect us on the way back, Lord, at night's rest, that our bodies can renew their energies and that tomorrow, if you allow it, Lord, we can face everything that tomorrow may bring. Thank you once again for tonight, for your Son Jesus we pray, amen and amen. I invite you, my brothers, to bring your offerings as we finish and close this service, we sing once again Sendas Dios hara.