Yes, I have finally finished reading Bonhoeffer! My daughter said I should celebrate, she said I should find a good German restaurant and go out for dinner...maybe I will. We have been doing a lot of celebrating this past month, birthdays...13 altogether in my family, 4 of them were my grandchildren. Such fun, great celebrations!
Celebrating is good, we are about to celebrate the birth of Christ and we are just now coming to the first advent, a Sunday of expectation and hope. The book I just finished reading was a powerful story about an amazing man in horrible times, in these times, there was not much time for celebrating yet through it all Dietrich Bonhoeffer (as well as many men and women around him) never gave up hope in his faith or in his God. The last chapter of this book is taken with this scripture, 2 Chronicles 20:12,
"We know not what to do, but our eyes are upon You."
Those were suffering times but it has not been the only time of people struggling in fear, people feeling without hope, yet looking for it, expecting it.
Nehemiah had hope in God, he wanted to do something, he prays under his breath and approaches the king. Hoping.
Esther knows not what to do but she asks for prayer and fasting and then enters the presence of the king. Hoping. Trusting.
Jehosophat knows not what to do but he calls on his God "...our eyes are upon You." Hoping. Trusting. Expecting God.
These too, are the sentiments we cry out often enough, we know not what to do, but here is our hope, found just a few verses down in verse 15,
"... for the battle is not yours, but Gods."
What a great and awesome hope we have, God belongs to us and the battle belongs to Him. Hoping for the peace only He can give and expecting Him to be with us through all of our struggles. Hope and expectation, this sunday, the first advent of the Christmas season...may we keep our eyes on Him.
"While in God confiding I cannot but rejoice."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
