Fear Not, I Will Help You (Is 41:13-20)

Our Lord speaks these words through the prophet Isaiah to the needy and afflicted. "Fear not, I will help you." Many times in our spiritual lives we are caught up in our own ways of thinking. We are constantly reflecting about ourselves and our lives, our worries and anxieties. I say reflecting because so many claim that they are actually praying when they act this way. In prayer we certainly do bring all our troubles to the Lord. However we are also called to listen to Him. Often we do not hear the words that our Lord speaks. "Fear not, I will help you." We rarely hear these words. More often than not we are upset with God because we want to know what we are supposed to do. But we do not listen. We want to act. We want to fix. We want to resolve. But we do not want to wait. We do not want to wait for the Lord to act, or to fix, or to finally resolve all our problems. Waiting is too uncomfortable for us. Waiting requires trust, and we have learned to only trust ourselves and how we see things. Waiting means that we have to acknowledge our helplessness. Waiting means that we have to acknowledge our need. Waiting means we have to endure our affliction. We do not want to wait. We do not want to listen to the Lord who desires to comfort us in all our affliction and provide for all our needs. Advent is a time of waiting. Advent is a time in which we acknowledge our need. Advent is a time in which we endure our afflictions with the sure and certain Hope that we do not need to fear for the Lord will come to help us. Advent is a time in which we acknowledge in faith that our Savior is not far off. We acknowledge that He indeed is very near; He hears our prayers and will come to save us. During Advent we take our eyes off our self centered reflection and look for the coming of our Lord who promises to save us. We are called to quiet that voice inside us that constantly wants action and resolution in order to listen to the Lord who speaks. "Fear not, I will help you."