When I was a kid, I thought KAOS was simply the name of an international organization of evil with the goal of world domination, make believe from the old TV show Get Smart. I didn’t know as a young child it was a play on the word chaos. Not all children are able to be as blissfully unaware of chaos as I was but all of us in our teen years, if not for sure by adulthood, know the stress and chaos of everyday life. The seasons, long and short, of the complete lack of peace.

In the old TV show, the nemesis of KAOS was CONTROL (the good guys). One can easily see our individual attempts to control things does not work out well. It does not bring peace. In fact, it’s more likely to bring more stress and anxiety. Rather, the One who is actually in control, the One who is sovereign, does slice through the chaos and bring peace.

In Isaiah 40:1-5, His concern for our comfort and peace is apparent in his very words and instructions of how to deliver his message. “Comfort my people…speak tenderly.”  It might seem like a “duh” but no one is comforted by being yelled at. Reflecting on the past we are reminded “sin has been paid.” Past experiences help ground us in the present as we look ahead to the future where we are promised “ the rough ground shall become level and the rugged places a plain.” 

So as we sit between the first and second advent, the past of sin being paid for and the future of the rough made straight, let us hold on to the peace that we have knowing God is sovereign and values us having comfort and peace this Advent season.