Ecstatic Joy

Fifteenth Day of Advent

Psalm 89:1-4 (Message)

1-4 Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it!
I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are.
I’ll never quit telling the story of your love—
how you built the cosmos
and guaranteed everything in it.
Your love has always been our lives’ foundation,
your fidelity has been the roof over our world.
You once said, “I joined forces with my chosen leader,
I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying,
‘Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life;
I’ll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.’”

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one…” Psalm 89:3

“Jesus Christ is the object of everything, and the center to which everything tends. Whoever knows him knows the reason for everything.” –Blaise Pascal

“I’ll rise and fall with you, ’cause you can’t fail me now.” –Joe Henry

There are and will come again times in our lives when we’re stricken with a suffering that we can’t surmount. These trials don’t exist in vacuums: they always pull back the curtain to reveal our ever-present and profound dissatisfaction with the world and ourselves. The psalmists are certainly no strangers to this, and they groan under their imperfections while waiting for God to fulfill His climactic promise to their people. Yet, in the midst of their agonized waiting, they also can ecstatically rejoice in the love of God. As Psalm 89 shows us, this is because they cling to the words of God’s promise, Whom He will reveal as Jesus, His divine Word made flesh. Christ, through His own sorrows, transfigures the psalmist’s earthly pain into heavenly joy, and He does exactly the same for us. By inviting us into his life, Christ also invites us into His suffering so that He can freely lead us into His happiness. Right now He is waiting to transform our tears into glories. Let us wait in faith and love with Him, so that we might fully know Him.

Garner Richardson

Re: Verse reading – John 3:1-21