Advent: Return to God - Tuesday, December 3
“Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi 3:7a
“I feel just like going to town and drinking myself to sleep and never waking up.” During this cold time of year, a man came to me and expressed this thought. Although less direct than a bullet to the head, the man’s proposed action would indeed be suicidal. Many people here die each year of exposure because they have passed out in the open cold air.
What drives a person to such despair? Trauma upon trauma; some of it self-inflicted, at other times, perpetrated by another. The man shared his trauma in confidence, so I cannot repeat it here, but it is enough for you to know that there are many layers. I could not solve his problems, but I could propose the same course of action the prophet prescribes here, a return to God.
The verse above declares us all guilty. None of us have kept the Lord’s decrees (Romans 3:23), because if we have broken the law at one point we have broken the entire law (James 2:10). We need to return to God in repentance. Attached to this demand for repentance is the promise, God will return to us.
Advent keeps our focus on Christ who came the first time to redeem us from sin, death, and the power of the devil, and the Christ who is coming again to set aright all that is wrong in the world. On that blessed day, no one will think of drinking himself to death. All that is so disordered in the world will be made new.
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20)!
Lord, I wait in eager expectation for your return, when all that is wrong will be made right. In the meantime, I ask you to change my mind in repentance toward you every day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.