Devotions this week based on the Message: “Believe the GOOD NEWS of Christmas!”
Where is God?
Where is God when homes and businesses are ripped apart by tornados? Where is God when innocent unborn are killed? Where is God when a pandemic ravages the lives of people around the world?
Do you feel like sometimes that God has just given up on our world? Does it seem like the forces of evil are so strong and prevalent that God has just abandoned us to their wickedness? Do you think that God doesn’t care anymore? Perhaps you feel like he’s left YOU all alone.
These thoughts have crossed my mind.
Searching for God amidst the tragedies and challenges of life is certainly elusive at times.
But that’s why we need Christmas.
Not parties, presents, and eggnog. In fact, perhaps all those things that “go” with Christmas are clutter to look around, move aside, or crawl through to see what God wants us to see at Christmas:
Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
What was that good news? “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11).
Isaiah put it this way (Isaiah 40:9)
You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
One short phrase the messengers were to proclaim from the highest spot they could find, “Here is your God! (was this the angels on Christmas morning?)
These four words seem pretty simple, but they are so profound!
HERE is your God! Not over there…not in the distance…not coming soon…but HERE…WITH us! At Isaiah’s day and today we have given God many reasons to NOT be here. We have turned away from him, sought solutions in our selves and science, discounted his message as myth and disregard his view of the world in place of our own. Why would God want to be anywhere near here?
No one would want to be somewhere where no one wanted him.
Yet into that very world, God sent Jesus, his Son, to be HERE…with us!
Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
Here, in the manger of Bethlehem is YOUR God! This simple pronoun takes what is generic and makes it personal. It’s like saying “There are presents under the tree” vs. “There is a present for YOU under the tree.” The second phrase compels you to action. The first leads you to shrug it off. The messengers of good news were told, “Tell all the people, ‘Here is YOUR God!’” Personal. Born for YOU! Lived for YOU! Died for YOU! Rose for YOU! Rules for YOU! Will return for YOU!
Yes, the pain of losing earthly possessions is real. The evil around us is challenging. The fragility of life is sobering. Yet none of it deters the good news of Christmas. God came to be WITH us. And that promise has NOT changed!
Apply: What changes in your heart and perspective when you pause to consider, “God is with YOU!”?
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for not abandoning the world of sin, but stepping into it to be with me and be my Savior! AMEN.