A topsy, turvy world and a little personal, Christmas chaos can throw even the most organized into a flat-out Christmas conundrum real quick. So much bad news with so many things just all gone wrong in the big picture today.
Ahh, today~ So many suffering! So many sick! So many with so much excruciating weight to bear. Families torn apart with isolation, depression, argumentative spirit, disagreement and just right out strife. It seems the enemy calls the shots and takes the win on so many fronts. No one can give in and no one can agree and so it hangs on and puts everyone on edge and over the edge! Ah but ‘Tis Christmas though, the season of holly, jolly joy and love and blessing, all wrapped into one, but it’s, well…it seems it’s up and walked off the face of your earth, leaving you high and dry in that, spinning out of control, world of yours and so really now, who cares about the twinkle, the fuss and the seriousness of Christmas anyway?
So beautiful one, with beautiful soul threshing about, we’ve a Saviour of light who was born into the deep darkness of this world and born into the bleakness of our world and born into the chaos of our world to bring hope to our world, because He came to live among us just to die for us. So how can His death paint a pretty picture for us at Christmas time? Thing is, He didn’t stay in the manger! He grew, He lived, He taught, He felt, He hurt just as we do. He knows our pain, He feels our rejection, our loss, our chaos. Just because He’s been there, all the way to the painful rejection and agony of the cross but it wasn’t the final chapter. He didn’t stay there. His empty grave became our victorious moment when death lost its sting! Because He conquered death, He made a way for us to escape its penalty.
His birth announced with the surround sound of angels and the brightest star of all time that dark night, ushered in a glorious hope and a the turn-about for the redemption of man and a lost world.
Yeah, our hopeless, helpless world! His world that He so loved! His birth was God’s plan of action to set a really messed up world right with forgiveness and salvation. But the baby in the manger had to grow up and go through the agony of the cross.
So, today, wherever you are in your chaotic world of COVID Christmas moments, know that His plan was for you and it’s still offered! Those “On The Edge” moments right now, you can know He can level those. He can make them safe, protect you and carry you over. Yeah, so He came that night…just for you! To make that way for you to find your way through the crisis of the edge.
So, see the picture. it might be tattered here, bent in the corners and broken but God holds it and each step of the way, He’s fitting the pieces together for a beautiful finish. Oh, couldn’t we all do with a little less conundrum today? A little less stress? A little less worry? For the believer, every adversity is an occasion to trust. And so we do as David did and despite difficulties, he rests in God and remains undaunted in the face of trouble. Say with him in Psalm 62: 1, 2
“I will wait quietly before God for my victory comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, My fortress where I will never be shaken.”
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him. My victory and honour come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people trust in Him at all times.”
Psalm 62: 5, 6, 7 8
#HopeIsInHIm#Advent
I wonder if you remember or even know the Hope born there that night in that crude stable, is as close as your heartbeat? Does the awesome gift of Hope from God resonate and radiate within you and from you? Does it affect your everyday living? Your thinking? Can you feel the depth of its magnitude deep in your soul, or have you sunk deep into that horrible conundrum of busy-ness and COVID chaos?
What a sweet gift the baby “Jesus” presented to the world in that wretched manger of straw surrounded by everything ‘less than perfect!’ Grasp, if you will, that picture of Hope for a broken and imperfect world! Not a COVID world but a sin world! Then reach out to receive a fresh touch for you! Thing is, it’s so much more than Hope isn’t it? Hope brings a joy and a peace of mind and a really gentle hug from God to message us that it’s ok. Everything really is ok”, and in that “million and one things” to do list, His gift of Hope is the stable banner at the top to get you through.
❤
Christ’s coming as a newborn baby was God’s gift of humility to humanity. God, the creator of all things, left the brilliance and the highest of heavenly heights and sweet and majestic glories of heaven to enter into our wretched world! He came fragile, helpless and in need of love, care, nurturing and the tender hearts of a mom and dad. His name was Jesus and He grew into a child, a teen and on to a young adult! He walked among us experiencing life as we know it yet because of His divine genealogy and inheritance, He was without sin.
So, this Christmas Advent season of celebration, savour that sweet and powerful hope that His birth begins to bring into a world of need, for such a time as this! Yeah, His death and resurrection went down in history and because of His whole gift of sacrifice, there is now a totally awesome new life in Christ available for us today. He can be present in our lives as we live them out daily in His presence. Seek Him, as the wise men did, find Him as the shepherds did, Praise Him as Mary did, right where you are, in your less than perfect surroundings and situations, and be in awe of a Savior and a mediator, sent by God, who came to serve, to seek and to save. Isaiah’s prophesy of so many years ago did come true when the promise of a Heavenly Royal King to be born was a promise of hope for a needy people. Let that same Hope fill you and your beautiful soul with a glorious wonder and anticipation as we begin this first week of Advent! Isaiah 9:6″For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 