Introduction:
Sometimes hope is hard to come by. The harder we search for it, the more elusive it is.
This seven part series leads us into and through Advent by inviting us to stillness. In that stillness, we may begin to hear hope’s song.
Hope for Peace
Read: Isaiah 11:6-10
The wolf shall live with the lamb. (Isaiah 11:6a)
Where I come from, this kind of thing doesn’t happen. It just isn’t “natural.”
But isn’t that the point? In this litany of unlikely scenarios, the prophet Isaiah paints a picture of nature that is highly “unnatural.” Nobody this side of the Fall has ever experienced nature like this. It is an echo of Eden—and a picture of the restored creation for which Advent aches.
Part of the pain of Advent is that this vision of peace is not yet fully realized. Yet, part of Advent’s promise lies in the fact that the Prince of Peace has come and is coming again. Nature as we know it was knocked for a loop when God rose from a grave. And that, the Bible reassures us, is only the beginning.
If peace on earth depended on us there would be little cause for hope in this or any other season. But peace, it seems, is part of God’s grand agenda. And that should give us hope as we seek to follow the Prince of Peace. After all, as Isaiah says, “a little child shall lead them.”
Prayer: Prince of Peace, grant us peace.