Christ is Coming to Call Us to Come to Him for Sustainable Strength through Comfort – Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

Have you had a moment in your life, days, even years of your life feeling forsaken by God, in spite of your faith?

It is terrible to feel as David had felt:

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish? My God, I call by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I have no relief (Psalm 22:2-3).

But it does not mean that David had lost his faith in God. He acknowledges how God had helped his ancestors, having heard their cries (Psalm 22:4-6). But then David seems to wonder if God would help him as He helped his ancestors because he experiences misery after misery and feels as if God did not hear him (Psalm 22:7-9). Nevertheless, David knows that he came to exist because of Him (Psalm 22:10-11). And this makes him realize that he has no one but God to turn to for help, even when he feels as if he were forsaken (Psalm 22:12). He goes on to describe his adversities, again (Psalm 22:13-19), and begs for His intervention (Psalm 22:20-22). Then, David concludes this Psalm with his confidence in God’s care and praise of Him (Psalm 22:23-32). So he writes:

You who fear the Lord, give praise! All descendants of Jacob, give honor; show reverence, all descendants of Israel! For he has not spurned or disdained the misery of this poor wretch, Did not turn away from me, but heard me when I cried out. I will offer praise in the great assembly; my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him. The poor will eat their fill; those who seek the Lord will offer praise. May your hearts enjoy life forever!

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord; All the families of nations will bow low before him. For kingship belongs to the Lord, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the Lord; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought (Psalm 22:24-32).

Though the above Psalm of David begins with his cry, expressing his raw feeling of abandonment. And, as to vent, he describes his predicaments. But, it is replaced with his confidence that God never forsakes him, even though he may feel so.

This makes a good “clinical case study” of how faith in God can help us move out of a spiritually dark time of feeling forsaken to a solid confidence in God and His providence.

Feeling of abandonment (v.2) gave its way to a realization that he has never been forsaken actually (v.25), as the strength of his faith is recovered, as God hears David cries, as long as his faith is not lost.

While Psalm 22 of David teaches us that weakened faith can result in feeling as if forsaken by God, the First Reading of Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent (Isaiah 40:25-31) reminds us that underestimating God’s providential care may result in feeling of abandonment. Thus says God:

Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is God from of old, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny (Isaiah 40:27-28).

So, we must remember how God really cares those who are in affliction and adversity. Thus it is written:

He gives power to the faint, abundant strength to the weak. Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint (Isaiah 40:29-31).

In David case, it was faith that is kept, recovers its strengths, to move out of affliction. In the above words from Isaiah, it is hope in God that renews the strengths to endure and come out of trials and challenges in life, though we may experience periods of spiritual dark times, bouts of desolation. But God’s consolation is brought to strengthen our faith for perseverance, recovery, and growth.

As written in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 11:28-30), this is why Christ comes to invites us to go to him for the benefits of his consolation.

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light (vv. 28-30).

To rest in Christ, enjoy comfort given by him, we must abide with him.

We must go to him and yoke with him and take his yoke and learn from him. Yoke in the original Greek text is ζυγός (zygos). This means to be one with him.

As a sperm and an egg come together, they become one cell for a moment, called zygote. Then, this zygote, an egg fertilized by a sperm, goes on cell divisions and differentiations into billions of cells to form our body. So, when we are weary, feeling desolate, as David felt, or because of underrecognizing God’s powerful providential care, we go to Christ for comfort and rest only he can give. But it also means to yoke with him – to become one with him. Then, our challenges in life shall become more bearable.

Christ also says:

Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love (John 14:4-9).

Remaining in Christ, as branches are securely attached to the vine, assures life and fruitfulness. And this is why Christ calls us to come to him to yoke with him (to be one with him). It is more than comfort and consolation but for the fullness of life.

Burned in your life? Feeling forsaken by God? Going through a period of desolation?

Such may be signs or symptoms that your faith needs to be strengthened so that you will not slip into irreversible despair. It is time to seek Christ and learn from him as you yoke yourself with him – you make yourself one with him.

As reflected in Psalm 22, David’s initial feeling of abandonment turned into his confidence in God’s providence, because he sought out God in his cries. And he acknowledged the greatness of His caring providence. This is why Christ is coming to us, calling us to come to him to be one with him. This is the only way for us to persevere trials and tribulations, keeping faith and hope. It is because the yoke of Christ is light, making our adversities and afflictions bearable.