7 The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.
8 In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you;
   your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
   For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness;
   in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it.
   Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
12 O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14 They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise;
   to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 But you have increased the nation, O Lord, you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

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When we are young, we look forward to Christmas because we anticipate what we will get.  Our wish list gets longer with each new thing we see, and we can’t wait to see how it will turn out.

When we get older, we look forward to Christmas because we anticipate getting together with loved ones.   It’s not so much about what we get as it is about what we give to people we love, and we treasure the time we get to spend with them.

When we get older still, we tend to look backward at Christmases past.  While we (hopefully) remember some special presents, we treasure more the memories of people we love but can no longer be with in person.

This Advent season, let’s take time to remember what is most important.  The presents are nice, the
gatherings are wonderful (hopefully), and the memories are treasured.  But, Isaiah reminds us in verses 8 and 9 to wait for Him and to let His name and remembrance be what our souls truly desire.  Let our hearts yearn for Him and earnestly seek Him, especially during these days.  Let us not be guilty of missing His hand at work, but let us see His majesty all around us.  Let us make ourselves available for Him to bring glory to Himself through us.