Advent presents us with an opportunity to reassess the way God is at work in our lives. Times of waiting will do this for us if we are honest. If it had not been for the Lord…This refrain repeats over and over as a reminder that no matter what the calamity was that set the stage for the Psalmist’s writing, the Lord was the answer. I am reminded that even though this is a beautiful and wonderful time of year, many people are still struggling. No matter what the calamity is (health, finance, relationships, isolation, fear, etc…), the Psalmist wants to remind us that if we have chosen God’s kingdom then God is with us.

—Let all Trinity now say—

Had it not been for the Lord who was on our side,

When the enemy attacked our marriage and tried to separate us,

Divorce would have engulfed us and swallowed us whole.

When the enemy attacked our health through disease, accident, or violence…

            Our bodies would have withered, and our health failed prematurely.

When death, the enemy of our peace, prowled our lives by taking our loved ones…

            Then despair, confusion, and unimaginable pain could have held us captive,

            like we were caught in the teeth of a hungry lion ready to devour us.

Our lives could have felt like a series of difficult circumstances providing only heartache and questions without answers,

            But, blessed be the Lord who gives help in our struggles and comfort in our pain.

He has provided a means of escape from a life of endless questions without peace.

            Peace itself has become our way of escape,

            Giving us grace to live each day free from sin’s endless trap.

The Lord is our answer, our helper, and our strength. He is greater!

May this thought guide your day and all your life.

Author: John Prichard

Other Scriptures for Today:

• Isaiah 54:1-10
• Matthew 24:23-35