Advent Devotional

Micah 5:2-5a

There is a pose in Yoga called Virabhadrasana II, or “Proud Warrior.” Our instructor tells us to “stand firmly in the present, reaching out for the best in the past with one hand, but keeping our eyes on the other hand, which is reaching toward the future.” I thought of this pose as a way of connecting to today’s passage from Micah.

Micah was writing to the people of Israel when they were standing in an unsettled present. They were under threat of an invasion by Assyria, the gap between rich and poor was increasing, and everywhere Micah looked he saw greed and corruption, even among the priests and prophets. In this passage Micah is reaching back to the golden age of David, the shepherd turned king, who came from the small town of Bethlehem, but at the same time his eyes are fixed on the future “one of peace”, who will “feed his flock in the strength of the Lord… and they shall live secure.”

We find ourselves in a position similar to that of Micah’s contemporaries. Our present is unsettled. Our country is involved in warfare and the gap between rich and poor is widening at a heartbreaking rate. Every day we read about some new scandal among our elected officials and others we thought we could trust. Perhaps we would do well to imagine ourselves with our feet firmly planted in the knowledge of God’s love, remembering the best from our past, but focusing our attention on God’s promises for the future: those beautiful promises of the peaceable kingdom inaugurated by the coming Christ child.

PRAYER: Gracious, loving God, thank you for loving us enough to get involved with this messy world. Thank you for your promises of peace, security, and your steadfast love. Grant that I may have the faith to reach out to the future in confidence, knowing that you are in my past, my present and my future. Amen.

Anne Topple