Sunday- December
2
Psalm 33:22 - Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be
upon us, even as we hope in you.
Hope can be a hard thing to come by sometimes. Christmas 2002 was a
time I felt a bit hopeless. My body was
exhausted and I faced open heart surgery right after Christmas. Every holiday task was tainted by the voice
of doubt and fear asking, “What if this is the last time you do this with your
family?” I had two boys, 5 and 2, and I
wanted years of Christmases with them - and their children. Christmas Eve
morning I went to the hospital for final tests and was having a huge pity
party. My best friend called to wish me “Merry Christmas.” When I complained
she laughed, “Guess God didn’t much want to be in that filthy barn tonight
either. There are some things you just
have to do! But because He did that, you’re
okay either way – and so are your boys!” Hope, joy, peace, and love flooded the
rest of that Christmas. Christmas is not about perfection in this life –it is
about the perfection that is to come. Christmas is about joy in the worst of
circumstances and peace despite all the terrors this world holds. Christmas
begins the journey to the cross that ends with an empty tomb and gives us
certain hope that the sin, evil, and death will never triumph! This is the scripture verse I chose that
Christmas for my tombstone – a cry of certain hope and defiance against my
worst fears. They are also a powerful expression of God’s action in coming to
earth to save us from our sins and a wonderful prayer to have on our lips until
He comes again in glory.
Prayer: Let your steadfast love, be poured on me, my family, my
church, my community, my country, Lord. Give me grace to put my hope in you
this advent.
Application: Think how God’s coming in a “filthy barn” can give us
strength and hope.
Once in Royal David’s City, stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a
mother laid her baby in a manger for His bed.
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all; And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall.
With the poor, oppressed and lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy. (PH #49- Cecil Frances Alexander 1848)
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all; And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall.
With the poor, oppressed and lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy. (PH #49- Cecil Frances Alexander 1848)
Devotion by Tracie Stewart
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