Come By Here
“Therefore keep awake . . . or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.”
Some sounds of Advent are suggested to us by the African spiritual, Kum ba Yah. The words are directed toward God. "Come by here, Lord." We want God to come into our lives again.
Mark tells us that God comes on God's terms and in God's time, not ours. We are not to waste our energy in endeavoring to predict when and how God will return. That is not our concern. Our duty is to be faithful.
The Advent season is to be a time of attention to the daily responsibilities of discipleship. We are to be diligent in performing the work to which we have been called. This means careful attention to our duties, maintenance of our relationships with other people, and exercise of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study.
So often the season before Christmas Day is filled with parties and shopping, baking, and wrapping. We become quarrelsome and frantic, neglecting the important activities of life. We focus on ourselves, not on God.
When God "comes by here," we should be found faithful and watchful. We need to be tuned to the sounds of need, of prayer, and of praise. Then it will not matter when God comes. We will be found ready.
For Reflection: Do I want God to "come by here?"
A Prayer Seed:
My soul, be on thy guard,
Then thousand foes arise;
The hosts of sin are pressing hard
To draw thee from the skies.
George Heath, 1781
