He Finds Me in the Dark Places

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, December 10th, 2023:
Second Sunday in Advent

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Isaiah
40:1-5, 9-11

Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”

See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.

Pray. Pause. Reflect.

Much of the second part of Isaiah, from which today's first reading is taken, is a prophetic response to the outcries of pain and suffering God’s people have endured. They have been in a time of judgement, but the Lord now speaks words of tenderness and of hope, restoring the relationship between Him and his beloved.

I am struck by a simple nuance between Isaiah and John the Baptist: John says that he is the one in the wilderness, challenging the audience to make straight the path for the Lord.  Yet Isaiah recognizes that it is the people of God themselves who are starting their journey in the desert. In this harsh place, they must make way for the Lord.  

It is here that I can see myself so often: in the desert. Sometimes it is the season of life I am in, but too often it is because of my own actions and sin that I find myself far from God and challenged by the harshness of the reality that I have created. I feel the judgement of God.  It is first recognized in the form of struggle, then conviction, and it always brings me to a path forward that is far better and often easier than what I was trying to do on my own. God’s judgement ends in mercy, tenderness, and hope that I will not remain here. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is my saving grace during this time. Again, I am reminded that while I may feel abandoned by God. He has always been there. 

It is crazy that while I am so assured of this now, give me a few months and I will need to learn it all over again.  Being a mother has allowed me to see myself through His eyes just a little.  Oh how He must delight in my return again and again, just as I do with my children.

I am grateful that with age, and perhaps some maturity, I find myself coming to these realizations more readily. It is as if I do not have time to waste on my own foolishness when my experience shows me the more fruitful way to live. If only I could speak to twenty-something me… but I suppose it is because of her, in part, that I am here now. Pride does not serve me as I once thought it did; instead I find myself befriending a nature of humility and prefer the comfort of knowing I am small and He is big.

​And so today, I stand on the high place, and humbly proclaim that God has called us to speak with strength. The Lord brings good into our lives; we need not live in fear. Our God is here and He will come to us in the dark places. He Himself is compensation for any loss. God will care for us, carry us, and lead us.  And all we need to do is trust and surrender.  




Heather Orlando

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