One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is listen again to my CD of Handel’s Messiah. I used to sing it in college with the College/Community choir and I love listening to the different parts and solos, singing along with the anthems. It amazes me how the music speaks, how it enhances and supplements the words themselves.
The other day I was listening to Every Valley Shall Be Exalted and following along with the words in Isaiah 40. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”. Advent is a time to spiritually prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ. What does it mean to prepare? Isaiah talks about a straight highway for God to arrive on. To prepare the road, the valleys must be filled in, the hills flattened down, the crooked places made straight, and the rough places made smooth. I don’t think God has ever actually needed a physical road, straight or otherwise, but since the Kingdom of God is within us, it must be a highway of the heart.
How does my heart need to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah? What valleys need to be filled in? What do I lack, that I need to receive from him? Patience, peace, joy. What hills, or even mountains, need to be ground down? What stands up too high in my life, blocking my view of the coming King? Maybe pride, or my anxious thoughts. What crooked places in me need to be made straight? What rough places need to be smoothed out? My impatience, my busyness, the way I speak to my kids.
The voice cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord.” But I need him to help me prepare, to raise up my valleys and grind down my hills, to smooth and straighten. And then, guess what amazing thing comes next:
“Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together! The Lord has spoken!”
When our hearts are prepared, he will come to us in a new way, shine his glory into us, and it will be obvious to everyone. That’s what I want. Let’s get ready!
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