The prophet Isaiah says, The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken. (Is 25:8).
The Israelites spent forty years wandering the desert and putting up with often-painful situations. Likely, they thought to themselves, “I can’t wait until this is all over!” God promised that one day it would be all over and all their tears would be wiped away. But it would happen in his time, not theirs.
How often do I find myself in a desperate situation and think to myself, “I can’t wait until this is all over!”? Perhaps I was experiencing loss of income or struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps I was facing a rupture in an important relationship. Perhaps I’d discovered something within myself that I couldn’t face. All I wanted was for it to end.
Mary, perhaps you also felt as though you couldn’t wait until it was all over. As a descendent of the Israelites, you experienced the same hardships and longing for the Messiah that they did. You looked with great anticipation to the day that the Lord God would wipe away the tears from all faces. Let me look with great anticipation for the Messiah to enter my heart this Christmas – a foretaste of his coming at the end of time when he’ll wipe away my tears forever.
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