Third Monday in Advent

God is Good…All the Time

Sarita John

Christmas—a one-day excuse to cover my home for two months in white lights, decorate with peppermint-eggnog candles, and show off my culinary skills. I cherish the time shivering with cousins at the Gaylord Texan Hotel ICE Exhibit, followed by hot chocolate and family photos next to Santa and the live reindeer. Getting to share the festivities with others makes Christmas memorable.

“I hope to spend this Christmas completely alone,” said nobody ever. Yet the most wonderful time of the year often proves the most dreadful time of the year for a huge portion of the population. Depression and suicide spike right after Christmas Day. Mental health professionals say such melancholy stems from the perception of others having more and doing more. Some have lost loved ones through death or divorce. Others feel hopeless for financial reasons. Media portrayals of families singing “Jingle Bells” in front of the fireplace wearing matching diamond-studded denim vests only adds to the despair.

Have you ever felt forgotten? Like God favors everyone but you? That he lacks justice? I have.

In four months, I will turn forty-five. Sarah was twice that age when she gave birth. Women with children remind me of this, along with other well-thought-out one-liners they’ve reserved for the barren. (If you know a ninety-year-old woman who wants to give birth, please tell me. I need to meet her.)

I’ve spent my eleven-year marriage watching everyone else have children. Some have three or four by now. Has God forgotten about me? Or purposely skipped over me?

Why would he allow the drunken prom queen to conceive, knowing in advance she will abort her baby? Or the unwed woman on her fourth pregnancy (each with a different man), feeding her unborn child Skittles for breakfast—why her but not me? Does God’s silence mean he approves of sin?

One hundred years after returning from Babylonian captivity, the Israelites abandoned hope that God would reestablish their kingdom. They couldn’t sense his presence, had lost confidence in his justice, and questioned his intentions. Their cynicism led to moral laxity, divorce, intermarriage with idolaters, and oppression of the poor. Even the priests disobeyed God’s Law. They forgot that covenant blessing requires covenant faithfulness.

Malachi’s message to the Israelites? God does not forget his own, so trust him to keep his promises. Malachi’s warning? Repent—for another messenger will come to bring judgment (Mal. 3:1).

The wicked and the righteous experience both suffering and blessing this side of heaven. Have you wearied God with your gripes? (2:17). He gives and takes away. Have you whined to him that he has forgotten about you without also acknowledging how much he has done for you—how good he has been? Do you trust in his goodness and believe that all his ways are just?

A Prayer for the Second Week in Advent from the Book of Common Prayer:

Merciful God, who sent thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead