by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Waiting for Christ’s Return

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.”
Psalm 24:7 English Standard Version

There’s a good reason that this manikin looks depressed. It’s been over five years since the Denver Broncos have been in the playoffs. Five long years. Granted that the last time they were in the playoffs they won the Super Bowl, but it’s been tough ever since that victory.

Their record the past five seasons? 32-48 with no winning season. Ugh. Again I say, Ugh. (Okay, so it doesn’t bother me that much since I root for the Seahawks.)

It’s easy to see a number of people with their heads hanging low these days. I’d love to say that the pandemic is at fault, but people were hanging their heads before all this stuff began. We have a way of romanticizing the past thinking that everything was perfect before COVID. Unfortunately that’s not true.

Marriages were on the rocks, people were killing people, teenagers were depressed. Is there any reason for us to lift our heads?

It’s a good possibility that this psalm was written to commemorate the entrance of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). What a joyous occasion that must have been. The gates are personified as lifting their heads to receive this magnificent reminder of God’s saving presence in the life of his people.

God’s salvation was not only a call for the gates to raise their heads, but more importantly for God’s people themselves. The gates haven’t received the mercy of God, we have.

No matter the reason for staring at our feet, our salvation calls us to look up, to look up at our symbols of salvation, to look up at the empty cross and the open tomb. We lift up our heads in anticipation that the King of Glory is returning. He’s returning for you.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado