Devotion Day #2 Lift Up Your Heads, vs. 2

We continue our series of devotions on the Songs of the Season. The first Wednesday service, this song was one that we looked at. May the Lord bless you as you continue to prepare for His coming.

Day # 2 “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates”

A righteous Helper comes to thee;

His chariot is humility,

His kingly crown is holiness,

His scepter, pity in distress,

The end of all our woe He brings;

Therefore the earth is glad and sings,

To Christ the Savior raise

Your grateful hymns of praise. LSB # 341 vs. 2

The song continues, as does our praise. It is all about the King of glory who comes. And our hearts can do no more than praise His name. As we asked, “Who is this King of glory? It is that little child in the manger. Wait? A little child in a manger? Yes indeed!

He is the righteous Helper, the One who comes to help each one of us in the midst of our lives. We often feel that we are strong enough to carry the full burden ourselves. We believe that we are filled with a strength of body, a strength of mind, a strength of spirit and a strength of soul. But are we? When push comes to shove, we come to realize how weak we truly are. We crumble when we are struck by the pains of this world. When our health fails, we try to show others how strong we are, while on the inside we are wasting away, weak as could be. Holding fast to the belief that we must put on a strong face, not let anyone know our weakness. But we need our King of glory. We need Him to come to us.

Our Helper comes, his chariot is deep humility. He doesn’t come with a mighty war horse, or a beautifully carved and jeweled chariot. Instead, He comes in humbleness, born as a child, born to Mary and Joseph in the humblest of places, a stable, with the animals, beasts of burden, animals who know nothing more than to struggle all their lives. He is placed in a manger, a feeding trough for these poor animals. Yet He does so willingly. He is so humble. The King of glory in humblest of settings.

Why? To bring the end of all our woes, all our sorrows, all our struggles, all the pains that we face day after day. Struggling under the load of this fallen world and the fallenness of our very being, the Helper comes to free us from all our sorrows and woes! Praise be to God! He has come to be our Helper, the One who does what we cannot do. Like the helper engine pushing the train up the mountain, a train that would stall and be unable to move at all by itself, the King of glory is the righteous Helper giving us life, love and grace. Hope! Advent 1! In Him is hope.

Prayer: Come to us, abide with us, King of glory! Be with us during this Advent season as we focus our attention on all that You have done for us in our lives. May Your Spirit help us to lift up our voices in songs of praise in every situation of our lives, knowing that You are our righteous Helper. Amen.