You Promised

A Relection on the Psalm for January 6th, 2019:
The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

PSALM 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king's son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.

​R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

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Hope. For all those who worshipped the God of Israel, who studied the scriptures and held steadfast to their prophesies, there was Hope. Generation after generation looked forward in the midst of their strife and held tight to God’s promise of a Saviour. The faithful were alert to signs of the fulfillment of God’s promise, and when the time had come, they were able to go forth as God called them. And so, on went the kings with gifts to pay Him homage. And upon arriving in Bethlehem, they recognized at once the face of their salvation in the pristine form of a newborn baby.
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How will I look for signs of God’s promises to be fulfilled? How can I live with this disposition of an expectant faith? I ask these questions in sincerity, because this is one of the greatest obstacles to my movement toward a deep abiding relationship with God.

Life on earth comes with many hurts and disappointments. In my own life, as the hurts piled up, I came to expect to be disappointed. And while this is not a healthy disposition to maintain, it is a disposition based on experience — a learned behaviour resulting from similar and repeated outcomes. Truth is, we can expect to be disappointed. We can expect that people will disappoint us. We can even expect that we will disappoint ourselves at times. And this is okay. Because you know who never disappoints? The One whose “justice shall flower.” He can be trusted to provide “profound peace, till the moon be no more.”

I catch myself often, laying earthly expectations on an eternal God. Unfair, I know. It’s a habit I’m trying to break. But the breaking of a habit requires an appropriate replacement behaviour in order that our energy can be refocused in a healthier direction. Enter: The New Year’s Resolution! What better time than now to reinvigorate our faith?

The times in my life when I have been able to see God most clearly — when I could recognize the fulfillment of His promises, are the times when I am truly on the lookout, reading the patterns of the stars as the Three Wise Men did. These are times when my prayer life is consistent; when I journal my hopes, fears, and the dreams that come to me at night. It is the times when I cry out to Him in my need, rather than tackling my problems without Him. God is fulfilling promises at every turn, but it is only those whose hope is in Him who will reap the joy of witnessing His grace in action.

"God is fulfilling promises at every turn, but it is only those whose hope is in Him
​who will reap the joy of witnessing His grace in action."

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Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, thank you for your just and ever-present love. Let us cry out to You, trusting that You will come to our rescue. Let us resolve to spend more time with you, Lord, so that we may be more alert to Your providential grace. Amen.
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​Lori MacDonald

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