Advent-themed Convocation reminds students to trust in God’s promises in all seasons

Liberty University students gathered in the Vines Center Friday morning for the last Convocation of the fall semester, and as they prepare for final exams and Winter Break starting Dec. 13, a message from Vice President of Spiritual Development Josh Rutledge encouraged them to take hold of the spirit of advent by placing their trust in God to fulfill His promises.

Keeping with the advent theme, the worship setlist was comprised of Christmas hymns, such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus,” performed on a stage decorated with candles and drapery.

Rutledge shared about a time in his life when he experienced a combination of anxiety, uncertainty, and feelings of inadequacy. His mind was filled with questions. He began to pray daily and ask God for wisdom and clarity. A friend told him that, in one way or another, he would likely have answers within a year, and challenged him with another question: In a year from now, what do you want to be able to look back on from this year and see how you lived true to your faith regardless of circumstances?

Rutledge kept a prayer journal and continued asking God what obedience to Him would look like in this uncertain season. One day, he jotted down an answer he keeps to this day: “In a year, I want to look back on this time and be able to say that my actions, in both word and deed, were governed by my trust and confidence that God is a good and loving Father who directs my steps and the steps of others and not governed by the fear and anxiety that is produced by manipulative effort to control.”

He said as Scripture continued to teach him to be still and wait on God, he knew his answer was the right one because it “hurt” to give over his illusion of control.

“It felt like everything I had been reading in God’s Word during that season came in a concentrated form for practical application in my life,” Rutledge said. “It is only when I have spent an inordinate amount of time in His Word that all of a sudden it feels like it comes together. As soon as I wrote it, I knew that was the answer.”

“In that season, what God demonstrated and revealed to me was that the answer I had written down was not an answer for (only) how to walk through a difficult stretch of uncertainty; it’s the answer for how to walk and live all of your life,” he added. “The illusion is that there are such things as uncertain seasons, as if there are certain ones.”

The advent season that leads into Christmas, Rutledge said, is ultimately a demonstration of the time gap between what God has said and when He fulfills it, encompassing the birth of Jesus but also all that God has promised.

“All of life is advent, which means the lesson and purpose of advent is to remind you and I that more often than not patience is the primary expression of your obedience as a Christian,” he said. “Patience is the primary way that you demonstrate your faith that you have a good and loving Father who is guiding your steps, so therefore you do not need to worry. That is the message of advent and of Christmas.”

Closing the message, Rutledge encouraged students to seize the spirit of advent and remember that God’s promises will always be fulfilled.

“This advent season, whatever you are wrestling with right now, whatever season you find yourself in, I want to invite you to surrender the outcome to God,” he said. “No matter how much you want a certain thing, no matter how good your desire or want might be, I want to invite you this season to surrender it to God. God will fulfill His Word; perhaps not like you thought, perhaps not when you wanted, but He will act and He will win. God always wins.”