Advent - Week 3, Day 1: Joy In The World!

What2Say2Day? In week one of Advent we covered hope and how we can share it through Healing Others with Prayer and Encouragement. Week two proved to be a challenge with not just finding our inner peace but being the source of peace for others. This week we're going to be asked to find Joy in the world. I'll be asking us to take a different look at two passages from the Old Testament; Psalm 126 and Isaiah 61:1-4 and 8-11. These passages are believed to be written after the return of the Hebrew people to Jerusalem in 537 BCE. In 597 or 598 BCE Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians and the Hebrew leaders were forced to leave. Over the next 60 years Jerusalem was met with political, economical and social disruptions which left it in complete and total disarray. During those 60 years more Hebrew people were forced out of the land that was considered to be promised to them by God. In 587 the Persians conquered Babylonians and returned Jerusalem to the Hebrew people, allowing them to continue with the religious and personal freedoms they once had. Of course, and as you can imagine, the Hebrews returned to a land that was completely destroyed by wars and revolts. They needed to rebuild their land and more importantly they needed to rebuild their temple. The two passages we'll be using this week will talk about how the Hebrew people found ways to praise God and be joyful even in the midst of the turmoil in which they were living. My hope is you'll find their stories inspiring and they will bring you the knowledge that peace and joy can be found even in the direst situations.