Advent is Over...But We're Still Longing

Luke 2:21-32

Today’s story is an interesting one—not one that you hear about very often. It is just a small piece of the arc of redemption, a hint of hope for the future, and foretelling of the salvation to come. In this passage we meet Simeon, a man who has been waiting for Israel’s savior. In fact, he has been told by God that he will meet the savior at some point in his life. So when Jesus is brought to the temple, Simeon is inspired by the Spirit to go and he meets Jesus. The praises that Simeon utters at this moment are so moving to me,

 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

Simeon feels total and complete peace and joy, because there is hope for the world right there in his arms. The waiting is over, the longing is ended—the next chapter is beginning at last.

Advent is over. Christmas is over. We waited, we celebrated, so now what? This next month can sometimes feel so flat or motionless as we struggle to get going into next year. And the difficult part of it is this: the season of Advent is over, but we are still waiting. We are still longing. We are still anticipating Jesus to come and redeem a world that seems so lost and hopeless. We are in the already of Jesus’ saving grace, and the not yet of his returning promise. So as we move forward out of this time, ask yourself: how is God showing up for me right here, right now? There might be things you are waiting for, things you’ve asked God for and he’s said, “Not yet, dear one.” But how is God meeting you exactly where you are and cradling you, like Simeon cradled baby Jesus in the temple on that day two thousand years ago? Though we still have longing and waiting, Jesus is in our midst to guide us through.

Reflect:

How is God showing up for you, meeting you exactly where you are?

What are you waiting or longing for, and how is God answering that longing? Seek his true answers, not answers that you want or feel like you deserve. Ask God to show you his will.

The Woes of Middle Management

For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die!

Deuteronomy 31:27

Moses chose some harsh words for his farewell address to the Israelites he had been leading for over forty years. Perhaps justifiably so. The Israelites hadn’t stopped complaining since they left Egypt. They were idolaters who built a golden calf to worship while Moses was off receiving the stone tablets of God’s covenant law (Exodus 32). They were rebels constantly attacking Moses’s leadership, even taking up the cause of Korah after God miraculously opened the mouth of the earth to swallow him and his fellow rebels alive (Numbers 16). 

Yes, Moses had his reasons to rebuke the Israelites, but let’s dig deeper into the context, shall we? 

You see, Moses was only middle management. God was in charge, and Moses had just come from the tent of meeting where he and Joshua had been summoned to hear the will of the boss. God, speaking in a pillar of cloud, expressed the same sentiment toward the Israelites that Moses parrotted and then commissioned Joshua as their new leader, for God was about to bring the Israelites into the promised land. By God’s will, Moses would never experience it. He would only view the promised land from a nearby mountain just before his death. Why? Moses was being punished for his own rebellion against God (Numbers 20).

On that day, Moses was both the recipient and proclaimer of God’s righteous judgment. He climbed Mount Nebo and died, never to be heard from again … 

Until the transfiguration! There, again atop a mountain, Moses beheld one whose face shone like the sun, whose clothes were white as light (Matthew 17). Moses never entered the promised land, but he talked with the promised one, the perfect lamb of God, the Messiah who through his death and resurrection would free us all from God’s righteous judgment.

Ruler Born in Bethlehem

DECEMBER 27

Scripture Reading

Read Micah 5:1-5 and reflect on the passage.

The Christmas season is my favorite. Everyone is merrier, the days feel more magical, and “holiday cheer” brightens the night. I have always highly anticipated Christmas morning, the “best moment” of every year.

So, it comes as no surprise that December 26th has historically been my least favorite day of the year. On that day, houseguests head home, all the radio stations go back to playing regular boring non-Christmas music, and the anticipation gives way to a massive post-holiday emotional letdown.

When my siblings were expecting children, however, my perspective on the anticipation of this season changed. The long wait to meet these newborns certainly didn’t end in a letdown—it gave way to the joy of sharing life with them and watching them change their world. Life was fundamentally different since they arrived, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When God promised Israel a Ruler who would reach the ends of the earth with His rule and reign, He didn’t promise us a one-day event. In Christ’s birth is the promise of ages, an eternal hope, and everlasting life that is renewed day after day after day.

That’s the best news on December 26th, 27th, and beyond!

Questions

How has Christ’s birth fundamentally changed your life?

How can you find ways to live into the daily hope of life with Christ?

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, that Your birth was not a one-time event, but the beginning of my eternal life with You. Amen.

                                                                                                                                    Katie Borden

God's Love for His Son - Israel (Hosea 11:1-11)

Even if you do not read the Blog entry below, please take 5 minutes to watch this video, and have a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas in the name of Immanuel.                  (GOD WITH US)

The Lord our God has patience far beyond our imagination! On this Christmas Day we are drenched in love for the Christ child and the beauty that accompanies the miraculous, healthy birth of a newborn baby; so innocent and dependent, yet strong and thriving with promise.

Jesus was sent to us however, as what I can’t help but see as a last resort. God’s grace love and forgiveness wasn’t enough for his people (Israel). He took extreme measures for the mercy of us all by sending Jesus to model how to live. How many more years will it take for us all to get it? What else could he possibly do?

In the Old Testament, Moses wrote Exodus as a lasting memorial of God’s goodness to the people of Israel. Verse 4:22; the Lord instructed Moses; then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son…”

Hosea, one of “The Minor Prophets” of the Old Testament also wrote; “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further away he went from me.” Hosea 11:1-2

This reading in Hosea is also a prophesy about the world being no different then than it is today. Though the Lord took care of and healed his Israel, they did not realize it. He led them with kindness and ties of love, but they did not respond. They refuse to repent.

Though God would be angered, he would not carry out that anger; “For I am God, and not man-The Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.” Hosea 1:9

We are Israel, and we still depend on “Immanuel.” God is truly with us here on earth because of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. Alleluia!

Read/Listen to Hosea 11:1-11

The powerful call to worship

Then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me...’”  Exodus 4:27

[Requesting permission to speak honestly.]  For much of my Christian life, something inside bristled a bit at God’s insistence upon our worship.  Perhaps the call to glorify him brushed up against my egalitarian notions of equality (admittedly misapplied in this case).  Maybe “worship me” seemed out of character for a humble God.  Most likely it was a “Bah! Humbug!” predictably bubbling up from a sin nature preferring not to exalt anything but itself. 

One morning, the devotional scripture included such a call to worship.  As I meditated on the passage and journaled the thoughts it evoked, my heart began to see worship from another perspective.  For the God who has called us to be his own is a good God, and all we wish life would be – beauty and friendship, peace and joy, life and truth, justice and mercy – is precisely what we find in him.  So what’s not to celebrate?  And who else is worthy of it? 

Moreover, God fights for us, his people and frees us from spiritual bondage.  So to all of the “pharaohs” that oppress us today, God’s command still thunders in authority, “Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, 'Let my son go, so he may worship me.’” 

Now, all who are in Christ are Abraham’s offspring¹ and have become “the Israel of God”².  And at his word, the darkest of dungeons have no choice but to release us to the goodness of God.

Brokenness must let us go to worship our God who heals. 
Anxiety must let us go to rest in God's perfect peace. 
Sin must let us go to stand before God in righteousness. 
Despondency must let us go to celebrate God in whom we find joy. 
Fear must let us go and worship God in confidence and faith. 
Shame must let us go and worship the God who has claimed us as his own. 
Loneliness must let us go and worship God who calls us friends. 
Weakness must let us go and worship God in whom we find all strength. 
Injustice must let us go and worship the God who claims justice as his own. 
Weariness must let us go and worship in God's rest. 

In his boundless love for us, God wields his limitless power for us.  He is our God, and we are his people. 

So come, let us adore him!  For he is good.  And we are free. 

¹ Galatians 3:29
² Galatians 6:16

John 1: 43-51

In Monday’s beautifully written Blog, Simon Peter met Jesus. The writer insightfully transcribed how differently God views each one of us, from the way we perceive ourselves and each other. Today’s reading recalls the day Philip and Nathaniel came face to face with the Savior. As I read each word I was compelled to think about how we should look at others from a different point of view as well.

Philip acknowledged Jesus as “the one Moses wrote about in the Law.” Jesus foretold they would "see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Perhaps Jesus envisioned who was positioned where, when His final day came to pass. Philip and Nathaniel were in the crowd.

Think for a moment, how differently we would manage our lives if we knew certain things ahead of time.

If we were aware that our husband or wife would only be with us for one more year, how differently would we love? If we had the knowledge our daughter would be separated from us as an adult due to family conflict would we be sure to create more positive memories for her today? If we somehow knew that as we aged, our health would significantly deteriorate, would we live more boldly now?

As Nathaniel and Philip approached Jesus, Nathaniel declared; “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; the King of Israel.”  It was as though Nathaniel had a sense the others did not. He understood what and who Jesus was. From that moment on, Nathaniel lived his life differently.

Can we attempt to live in such a way? Gleaning from every moment, a sense of urgency regarding taking care of others as though they will not be with us tomorrow? To do so, we will need to take a heavenly viewpoint.

God, “Give Me Your Eyes.”

Read/Listen to John 1:43-50

View You-Tube video “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath

You Promised!

Numbers 20:2-13

Israel in the Wilderness

 You Promised! Can’t you just hear her whiney little voice complaining about how she did not get what she wanted-what was promised? That annoying complaint can come from a child, adults, or perhaps the elderly, but no matter where it originates, it can be irritating just the same.

We can only imagine the times the Lord has heard this type of appeal. It goes back to long before Jesus walked the earth; perhaps to Adam and Eve as they endured the hardships that accompanied their dismissal from The Garden of Eden.  

In Numbers 20, the people of Israel are in the desert. They feel they have been wandering in the wilderness forever and can’t handle much more. They complain to Moses and Aaron that there is no food or water and question why they were lead away from where they were to begin with. They want it to end!

We can take example here. The only way to our Promised Land is through the wilderness. There is no secret passage way that will get us there quickly and pain free. Whining and complaining will not make it better, in fact it will likely bring about increased adversity.

Our God has promised us a new life in heaven, but the road there can be long and difficult. This wilderness world in which we live challenges us daily, and often brings us to the point of grumbling, quarreling, and losing heart. We are all on this journey together. Perhaps envisioning how some others have experienced the wilderness will help us realize it’s normal and common to struggle through feeling lost and alone at times.

Some of us play the hand we have been dealt with style and dignity, and others well, not so much. Those who seem to handle their wilderness well, are probably in close contact with God. When the journey seems too much to bear, go ahead…Ask God for peace and clarity. Let Him know you are willing to go where he is leading you and that you want what He wants. If you choose to go it alone, you will likely get no more than just “a little cheese to go with that whine.” 

Read/Listen to Number 20:2-13

Don’t Ever Give Up!

To summarize this week in Nehemiah………………………………………

“We lose our way, we get back up again.

It’s never too late to get back up again.

Get up! Get up! You’re gonna shine again.

You may be knocked down, but not out forever.”

Listen to Get Back Up by: Toby Mac

Nehemiah never gave up. Time and time again he corrected, rebuked, and redirected the people in Jerusalem. He was insistent that “we will not neglect the house of our God.” Chapter 10.

As we remember we are just as human as those people in Jerusalem, and just as sinful, we must also be reminded that God is still the same as well. He is all forgiving, and that is very good news for us!

We are always in need of repentance, reform, and re-commitment. Change is possible, yet difficult. We tend to revert back to what has been the norm for us in the past even when we are the right track. It’s tiring to keep getting back up on that horse, and it’s exhausting to hang on for dear life and begin again with a humble heart, but it is always worth it.

We have an open invitation to turn to the Lord, trust in Him and try again. He will always welcome us back with open arms once we pry our heads out of the mouth of our predator!

Read/Listen to:  Nehemiah 13:6-12      Nehemiah 13:15-18   Nehemiah 13:22-27

Pray and Party

Nehemiah 12:43 (NIV)
And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

The trumpet, which once called the people to action, to be alert and on guard against attack, was now used as an instrument to celebrate. It was used to praise God as they rejoiced in the fact their job was finished. Although Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the temple, he couldn't destroy worship or the music.

Music is part of the sound of rejoicing. When life is tough and things around us begin to disintegrate turn on the music and sing. The sounds and the words will lift the gloom and brighten the spirit. How often has belting out a favorite song turned our sadness joy? 

The Israelites were ready to party, to celebrate all that God had done for them once more. We can do the same when a particularly difficult season has passed, when we have become obedient once again and accomplished a challenging task God set before us.  If it is rebuilding the walls to fortify our city or if it is rebuilding a broken relationship, praise God for bring you to this point.

Dear Lord,
Your faithfulness to us is an amazing thing to experience.  Your forgiveness and mercy are indeed undeserved yet so welcome.  We lift up our hearts to you this day and praise you for your unending love.  We pray for our brothers and sisters in Israel this day.  Protect them, guard the children, and destroy the enemy as you did in days of old. Remind us today to remember to pray for your people. Amen.

Nehemiah 12:27-43

And ransom captive Israel

The Lord said to Moses ... “Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son ... ‘”  Exodus 4:22

We have all struggled with God, haven't we? All mankind has struggled with God. That's what “Israel” means: “he struggles with God”! 

Yet God commanded Moses to refer to these struggling people – this Israel – as “my firstborn son,” a phrase that would echo throughout centuries, promises and proclamations to come. So then, who is Israel? Who is it that the God of all creation declares to be “my firstborn son”? Incrementally over time, God has shown us ...
 
As God began to reveal himself and his promises to the ancients, “Israel” referred to the people of a race, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God called them, collectively, “my firstborn son.” Yet God would show us more.

For born of that lineage, was Jesus, the promised Messiah. This was the one of whom God had proclaimed in advance, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor (Isaiah 49:3).” There through the prophet, Isaiah, God called the Messiah, “Israel.” He was God’s “one and only son (John 3:16)” and “the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).” Yet God would show us more.
 
For it was God’s will that all who believe in this promised Servant should live forever as one in him, with him and through him. And what do all who believe in him have in common? We are “the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16)” and included in “citizenship in Israel (Ephesians 2:12-13).” And we are “the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:23).” And God will show us more.

For Jesus has gone to prepare a new place for us, where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

And there we, the Israel of God, will struggle no more.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

From "O come, O come, Emmanuel"
Author Unknown

Luke 2:21-32

I wonder if some folks, who don't yet have a relationship with Jesus, think He is not for them.  Could there be some who think Jesus only came to save a chosen few and that He couldn't possibly care about everyone on earth?  I am not sure what I thought before I came to faith; perhaps I didn't think anything.

There is one thing that will get the attention of people and that is often a baby.  Men and women alike will post comments when a picture of a friend's baby is posted.  Why is that?  What do babies represent for us?  Babies are innocent, unblemished and dependent.  They won't hurt us, challenge our actions, or desert us in our time of need.

When Jesus entered this world and our lives, He arrived as a baby so we could love Him before we believed who He was.  But, there were a few who understood His significance, a chosen few to whom God revealed the Truth. Simeon was one of these people and he recognized Jesus the moment he laid eyes on Him.  Simeon knew Jesus was the Messiah, and that God had fulfilled His promised.

Oh, to be able to recognize Jesus every time He steps into my path.  If I would act out my faith, and trust that Jesus will take care of me, I could sleep better at night.  I need the faith of Simeon to put all my trust in God.

Luke 2:30-32 (NIV)
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Read Luke 2:21-32 here
Listen to Luke 2:21-32 here

Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23,33

I found myself whining again as I was writing in my journal this morning.  Yesterday my new garage door opener decided not to work properly.  It would get to within 3 feet of closing and pop open.  There was nothing there to impede its operation, it just would not close.  I don't like it when things don't work like they are suppose to.  I get an unsettled feeling, anxiety if you will, over something so small.

Right on the heels of this, my devotion time today found me in 2 Kings 6:16-17.  This is the story of an enemy of Israel who tried to capture Elisha by sending an army, a strong force of chariots and horses to surround the city Elisha where was staying.  Elisha's servant discovered their presence in the morning and ran to his master in a panic.  What was Elisha's response?  "Don't be afraid."

How many times do we hear Jesus saying this very thing to us?  Don't be afraid is a command, not a comforting pat on the back.  Why then do I jump into fear the moment things don't go my way?  Do I not trust, do I want things the way I want them and that is that?  I am sensing God is telling me more.  He is using simple things like broken garage door openers to remind me I am not in charge here.

Jesus is coming, Royal Authority is on the way and things as mundane as garage door openers are under His control, not mine.  My everyday life is His to control.  "I serve at the pleasure of the King."

The texts for today can be found at Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23,33