Living in the Shadows, Searching for God’s Light

Posted on Sep 08, 2020 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Tsh Oxenreider

On the heels of this unusual year, we want something to look forward to in the face of uncertainty. With Christmas at once far away and just around the corner, it’s not too early to start preparing our hearts to celebrate the wonder and significance of Christ’s birth, and to begin recognizing Advent. Our souls long for the full redemption of the world and Advent aligns our minds with what we already anticipate: a full feasting with Christ.

As a season of reflection, Advent provides the space and freedom necessary to feel and understand what it means to wait on God. For those in the northern hemisphere, Advent begins in a season of ever-growing dusk, creeping toward the shortest and darkest day of the year. In a time of cooler temperatures and grayer skies, there’s a glad welcome when the invitation comes to shift our focus to a new beginning: an arrival.

Jesus of Nazareth arrived in a world of poverty. Born to parents of no renown and raised in a town known for nothing good coming from it (John 1:46), God incarnate made his way from the right hand of the Father into a common world rife with political unrest and injustice. He cloaked himself as a person of insignificance, where very few people knew his true identity.

When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, she lived in a world of shadows. Her betrothed, Joseph, made ends meet as a carpenter, quite possibly barely making ends meet because of the outrageous taxation from the imperialist Roman government. Herod the Great’s bloody, paranoid reign demanded tactics of mass terror and widespread surveillance. (It really is a wonder that God brought the world’s Savior into this time and place in history.)

A young woman who became pregnant out of wedlock in this ancient Jewish culture would have been terrified. But God’s promise to Mary wasn’t stability or security. His promise, as given through Gabriel, was that the power of the Most High would overshadow her (Luke 1:35). God redeems darkness. He wants to infiltrate the shadows and bring light beyond our comprehension.

We begin Advent aware of the shadows in our world, big and small. Yet, over the weeks we slowly move toward the light of the world. The candles we light every evening remind us of the impending arrival of our good gift from God, given to all of us more than 2,000 years ago. Those candles also remind us of the hope yet to come, when Christ returns to fully redeem the world.

Advent is pregnant with anticipated arrival. Advent acknowledges shadows and dims them with burgeoning light. So we wait in expectation for the full, radiant, overwhelming light to one day wipe out all darkness forever. This is the hope of Advent.