2024 Advent Devotion: Day 9

Monday, December 9

Psalm 126; Isaiah 40:1-11; Romans 8:22-25

We have all found ourselves in situations in which we were expected to know the correct answer to a question, often in a timed or otherwise high-stress environment. Many of us experience that to the extreme during exam season. While some exams I’ve taken have been more stressful than others, one stands out. During my junior year of college, I was completing an upper-level math course required by my major. I’d felt a bit lost through the entire semester, and the stress of my own lack of preparation continued to build as the final exam approached. I had prepared my formula sheet that the professor allowed us to bring for the exam, but even seeing those formulas in my own handwriting didn’t do much to comfort me. As I sat and struggled through that exam, I found myself panicking over the possibility of failure and what that would mean for the next semester, graduation, graduate school, or even my career. Logically, I knew that I could repeat the course if necessary, but rational thought doesn’t always win that mental battle during finals. And since rational thought had failed me for the moment, I closed my eyes and took a breath. And another one. And I prayed for peace, for calm, and for comfort, not in words spoken aloud, but simply in that mental conversation that we often find ourselves in with the Lord.

In reflecting on the readings for today, I found myself drawn to the text from Isaiah that speaks to the ways in which God comforts his people. I was also reminded of a text by Sarah Bessey from her book, “A Rhythm of Prayer,” which is a collection of prayers and meditations written by many speakers, preachers, and authors. The text I include here is entitled “A Prayer for When You Don’t Even Know What You Want.”

“Settle down into the silence. Close your eyes.
Inhale.
Speak the name of God that rises to your lips: Jesus, Mother, Abba, Yahweh, Father, God, Spirit, simply let that be what it is.
Exhale.
Imagine God calling you by your name.
And hear God say to you, as Jesus said to the blind man who called out to him,
What do you want me to do for you?
Inhale. Exhale.
And answer honestly.”

The conversation I had with God during that final exam was not articulated nearly as well as what Sarah Bessey has achieved with this text, but the peace, the calm, and the comfort were there. And somehow through it all, I passed that final exam and the course. I also learned more than math that semester; I learned more about prayer and finding comfort in God.

So in this season of Advent, this season of waiting, I pray that you all find hope, peace, joy, love, and comfort in our Lord.

Meredith Rowe
Associate Professor of Biology