The Peace We Long For: Advent in Disorienting Times | Day 11

Your strength, God, is the king’s strength…Show your strength, God, so no one can miss it.

Psalm 21

A professor I had in seminary referred to the Psalms as God's prayer book for God's people. The Psalms express our deepest joys, our humanity, and our longings. The prayer of God’s people for a king was intended to showcase God's strength in their leadership, emphasizing that this message should not be overlooked. Later, followers of Jesus Christ read these words from Psalm 21, interpreting them to mean that Jesus was the answer to the long-held hopes of generations for a king who would be selfless and humble. 

The Advent season is often a time when we use words like waiting, yearning, longing, and angst.

We fully know the reality of what this moment holds and means. The strife, the heartache, the questions that reside in us. A few months ago, we were longing for longer nights and cooler evenings during summer, and now in December, we find ourselves longing for the warmer and longer days of spring.

Where does that tension reside in you? Where does it exist in your body? What is it you are longing for, shalom and wholeness? 

May we echo this prayer of the Psalmist on this day, “Show your strength, God, so no one can miss it.”