(I wrote this back in 2015 for the Cross, the publication for the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. I think most of it still applies.)
Most of us have sung this already this season. If we haven’t we certainly will soon. It is the cry of every heart, even those who don’t know God, (though they cry it out without language) for the coming of a world that makes sense, a world where justice and mercy reign, where we are truly safe from our enemies and have the courage to stand down the enemies of others. It is a cry right from the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come!”
We want to see God’s reign on earth, to see HIs Kingdom manifest among us, but I think too often we forget that He has come already. His Kingdom is already inaugurated. We are no longer given the freedom to cry out “Ransom captive Israel!” as though He had not already done that, as though He had not already entrusted to us all that we need to make it happen.
There is a song on Christian radio right now called “Be One.” That means, “Be A Miracle.” The world needs a miracle if it is going to emerge from its present darkness, and as much as you might want to deny it, you’re the miracle God has sent.
Too often though our ability to be the miracle God longs for us to be is stunted by our perception of the problems that we face. We stand like the armies of God, shaking in our boots as the giant Philistine shouts his intimidations, we look into the promised land and say to ourselves and to the people around us who can’t see, “We are as grasshoppers to them.”
But we are a people of hope! Not the wishful kind of hope that says, “Oh, gosh, I sure hope this happens!” but the kind of hope that dances in anticipation of a real good that is just around the corner. That kind of hope led David to charge at Goliath with nothing but a pocket full of rocks. It led Caleb to declare, “We should by all means go and take it!” (The land.) We are an army characterized by hope, not because of the strength of our own arm, but because of Him who goes before and behind us!
The world is looking for a people who are so entranced by their God that they march happily toward the enemy. We will look foolish marching in circles around the enemy’s strongholds, but when the nations see the walls of the fortresses of darkness collapse at our shout of victory, they will give glory to our God!
If you are worried about the state of our nation in this time, don’t run to try and fix it until you can do so with a grin on your face and a song on your lips. First find the Lord of Hosts (which is by the way a military title) and hear His laughter, His song over you, and only then turn and run at the enemy with the weapons of love and mercy that can break chains.
When you sing “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” look at your own hands, because He’s already there, ready to heal. Look at your own arms, because He’s there, ready to embrace the lost, the broken, the angry. He’s there ready to lift up those who are lost to despair and infuse them with new hope.
O come, O come Emmanual!
