{"id":4253,"date":"2025-12-12T07:16:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/?p=4253"},"modified":"2025-11-30T23:19:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T23:19:03","slug":"a-voice-in-the-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/a-voice-in-the-wilderness\/","title":{"rendered":"A Voice in the Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>Friday, December 12<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A Voice in the Wilderness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The LORD says, &#8220;Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.&#8221; <strong>Micah 5:2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Isaiah 40 and verse 3 brings about a shift in the promise of God. With this passage, Advent shifts from long-term promises to preparation. God begins to clear a path for the King.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cA voice of one calling: \u2018In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.\u2019\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 &#8211; Isaiah 40:3<\/p>\n<p>In ancient times, when a great king traveled, workers went ahead to level rough ground, remove obstacles, and make a smooth road. Isaiah uses that image to describe the human heart saying before the King comes, something must be cleared.<\/p>\n<p>The wilderness represents the dry, neglected places in us the places needing renewal. Advent is a season God uses to prepare our hearts, to clear away what has become crooked, cluttered, or cold.<\/p>\n<p>The King is on His way.<\/p>\n<p>Prepare Him room.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong>:<em> Lord, show me the places in my heart that need Your preparation. Clear away whatever keeps me from receiving You fully. Make my heart a straight path for Your coming. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, December 12 A Voice in the Wilderness The LORD says, &#8220;Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.&#8221; Micah 5:2 Isaiah 40 and verse 3 brings about a shift in the promise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4253"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4256,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4253\/revisions\/4256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}