A Longing that Nothing Else Can Satisfy

Something To Think About

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT One of my favorite Christmas songs cause a pain in the core of being.  I'm not a masochist, but it is a good feeling. Longing is a concept that is foreign to our instant-this-instant-that, WIFI-enabled, globe-at-our-fingertips world.  Yet all of that Get-R-Done immediacy is far too often a covering--one with holes, I might add--for deep needs within. Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel   I imagine Anna and Simeon--representative of the Old O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Choir of Clare College, Cambridge Testament faithful--singing those words, no, not singing, groaning them in heart-rending words of prayer.  Israel needs to be ransomed spiritually far more than politically.  They longed to see the fulfillment of Isaiah, and the other prophets words, "Unto us a child is born . . . a son is given . . . His government and its peace will never end."  Nothing else will do.  We long, with unimaginable longing for the fulfillment of the promise.   The song goes on though and speaks of the longings that are in the hearts of all Adam's children.  We all need to be freed from Satan's tyranny.  Amusement, and Jingle-bell  happiness abounds; what the hymn describes as "cheer" for our hearts, and the Bible describes as joy, is in short supply. Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel  by The Franz Family We are very open to the coming of the softly lit babe in the manger who warms our hearts like a cup of chocolate with a marshmallow, but the song speaks of a "Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height, In ancient times did'st give the Law, In cloud, and majesty and awe."  No smiling child can meet the need of humanity, or the longing that achingly resides in the heart of every woman and man.  The "Rejoice, Rejoice," refrain of the hymn does not speak of merely an infant.  God did not send a baby to make us feel better.  He gave His Son to meet our deepest need, and change us so we could become what we were made to be--worshippers of the God of the Universe.  That, and that alone, satisfies our longings.  (Cue the choir in your mind, Hallelujah Chorus.)    It's STTA.   Find lot's of information about how God stepped into our world to meet needs we cannot meet on our own, here.