November 30, 2021 "Eager Expectation"

Thank you, Gina, for reminding us of the serenity prayer and the need for discernment.

The two verses from his passage in which I can find meaning for myself are 8:21 and 8:28. When Paul writes that we do not know how to pray and so the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words — it’s like a description of contemplative prayer. And what is our deepest prayer but one for unconditional love? And if we can experience that love, both individually and corporately, we can have faith in discerning the things that will work together for good. . . .If only I could do more than just glimpse that love momentarily.

Back to Catherine Keller’s book, “God will answer out of [the creative chaos of] the whirlwind (Job 38:1)“ — even though when in the whirlwind, chaos may be all we can see. That makes waiting hard!

What stands out to me is the determination of God's people to be optimistic. I want to remember to trust that the darkness may lead to something glorious. But I must remember to show compassion to those in the midst of darkness, those for whom the darkness leads to only more darkness.

I think that it not only takes faith with a new perspective, hope for God's working in us, and for all humankind but also a large amount of trust and a wisdom and discernment only God can give. I can't help but think of the serenity prayer. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

I really liked reading this text in The Message. To me, it seemed to bring to life more the theme of pregnancy in this scripture.

What stands out to me in this text is hope. No matter how frightening, ugly, or unjust our world seems right now, it can "bear no comparison with the splendor, as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us" (Romans 8:18). That is comforting to me. We have that hope in what has not yet been revealed.

Yet, these verses do make me wonder where we find the balance between waiting patiently in that hope and working in the here and now to improve things ourselves. We want to work for justice and equality, to show support for those who have been marginalized. That sounds like Jesus's ideas to me.

The devotional mentions "eagerly anticipating--indeed fearlessly waiting for--the new thing God is birthing." How do we know when to wait for God to do what He is bringing about and when to take action ourselves?