Prepare the way for the Lord!

One of the things that strikes me time and time again when I read of God's relationship to his chosen people Israel is His endless patience, love and mercy. His relationship to Israel was to be a constant living example of His grace and loving kindness. The people of Israel disappointed him, betrayed him, and turned from him time and time again. In spite of their sin and unfaithfulness, God never rejected them. His eternal plan of restoration unfolded itself even as the Jews believed His prophetic voice to be silent. Suddenly, after centuries of seeming silence, John the Baptist appeared! He was calling his fellow man to repent and to receive forgiveness for their sins. He came proclaiming the coming of the Messiah that was promised and who had in fact already arrived in the person of Jesus. John was ready and willing to point to Jesus as the coming Savior even though it meant that his own days of life were numbered. The prophetic calling that had reached him even as an unborn child was the driving force of his life and his ministry. This was so much so, that when asked who he was, he described himself simply as a voice preparing the way for the coming Messiah. His purpose was completed when he pointed to its fulfillment - Jesus.

The Jews were not more faithless than we. They were chosen to demonstrate for all the world the nature of mankind and our universal need for the forgiveness of our sins. This passage confronts us with our own faithlessness and disobedience as we walk our path leading through life which at times can seem just as difficult as the desert wandering of the Jews.
John prepares the way for us even now in this desert, calling us to renewal through repentence and restoration in Christ. Let us turn to Him in our need to receive of his great and eternal grace and love. We are his treasured possession, his people. His covenant promises are eternal and true. He is ever faithful to preserve us through the abiding presence of his Spirit.

Psalm 37

John 1:19-28
John the Baptist Denies Being the Christ19Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."21They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?"He said, "I am not.""Are you the Prophet?"He answered, "No."22Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "24Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"26"I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."28This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Deuteronomy 7:6-96

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.