Perplexed in Advent

    

   What would it have been like, 9 months pregnant, bouncing on the back of a donkey for days, only to find there was nowhere to lay your head, not to mention give birth? Or for Joseph, charged with protecting the Savior of the World, as well as His human mother, and yet at a total loss for how to do so? We know the rest of the story. They didn’t. “No worries, Joseph,” we say. “Help is on the way!” [“What are you afraid of, Moses? That sea is going to stand up and separate any second now!”] But they could only stand still, trusting and waiting for deliverance. And that is precisely what they awaited….in fact what we all awaited in this birth.

   You and I may at this very moment have worries, disappointments, griefs, fears, or frustrations swirling through our heads. Yet It never ceases to stop me short in Advent…..never ceases to put circumstances, disappointments, joys, longings, thanksgivings, mistakes, and concerns of all kinds in the perspective of eternity. Not just ‘the sweet by and by’ of someday in heaven, but now’s eternity. That is where our true Shalom lies………entrusted to the Trustworthy One, the one and only Three-in-One. Knowing He knows the end of every story and has already prepared an Abigail for us. Wise men are already heading our way with provision. Seas are ready to stand up at His command.. He’s about to give angelic direction for our protection. All we need do is listen, receive, and obey.. Though we may be clueless about how things will play out, our ABBA is not. Trusting Him goes hand-in-hand with doing what we best understand of His will for us at the moment. Our ‘faith of a child’ warms His heart.

   I am fond of the following passage from one of my favorite Max Lucado books, In the Grip of Grace: 

“Stepping from the throne, he removed his robe of light and wrapped himself in skin: pigmented, human skin. The light of the universe entered a dark, wet womb. He whom angels worship nestled himself in the placenta of a peasant, was birthed into a cold night, and then slept on cow’s hay.

Mary didn’t know whether to give him milk or give him praise, but she gave him both since he was, as near as she could figure, hungry and holy. Joseph didn’t know whether to call him Junior or Father. But in the end he called him Jesus, since that’s what the angel had said and since he didn’t have the faintest idea what to name a God he could cradle in his arms . .” .

*****

“For only a God could create a plan this mad. Only a Creator beyond the fence of logic could offer such a gift of love. What man can’t do, God does. So, when it comes to goodies and candy, cherub cheeks and red noses, go to the North Pole. But when it comes to eternity, forgiveness, purpose, and truth, go to the manger. Kneel with the shepherds. Worship the God who dared to do what man dared not dream. “

——-And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado

 ***

“This isn’t the way I planned it, God. Not at all. My child being born in a stable? This isn’t the way I thought it would be. A cave with sheep and donkeys, hay and straw? My wife giving birth with only the stars to hear her pain? This isn’t at all what I imagined. No, I imagined family. I imagined grandmothers. I imagined neighbors clustered outside the door and friends standing at my side. I imagined the house erupting with the first cry of the infant. Slaps on the back. Loud laughter. Jubilation. That’s how I thought it would be. The midwife would hand me my child, and all the people would applaud. Mary would rest and we would celebrate. All of Nazareth would celebrate. But now. Now look. Nazareth is five days’ journey away. And here we are in a . . . in a sheep pasture. Who will celebrate with us? The sheep? The shepherds? The stars? This doesn’t seem right. What kind of husband am I? I provide no midwife to aid my wife. No bed to rest her back. Her pillow is a blanket from my donkey. My house for her is a shed of hay and straw. The smell is bad, the animals are loud. Why, I even smell like a shepherd myself. Did I miss something? Did I, God?     

—Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life and He Still Moves Stones  

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“I could not comprehend God’s plan, but my understanding was not essential. My obedience was.” —-Gabriel, from An Angel’s Story; Max Lucado

***

“…why would you say, “Yahweh isn’t paying attention to my situation. He has lost all interest in what happens to me.?” Isaiah 40: 27

“…Yahweh….is never puzzled over what to do! He empowers the feeble and infuses the powerless with increasing strength” Ibid  29

***

May the rest of your Advent season be a tender, obedient, and trusting one.

Julie

Breath of Heaven:  

https://youtu.be/TOQRtYYERGo?si=wUd_DdOS3PGth-On

Mary, Did You Know?   https://youtu.be/trW_lD9sBt0?si=JpDYwYHdpEF6jABg

Need a good soak in the tub?

This is my first Christmas in this new season of my life. I can luxuriate now in large doses of quiet on a weekday morning, with no parameters looming. I’ve often wished to soak in the tub of the Holy Spirit’s presence and dwell in the reverence and holiness of the time of angels and shepherds, keeping the shopping world at bay while His Star shines forth onto the silent hillside of my heart .

Even so, my ‘get-er-done’ personality is tempted to jump up and accomplish various tasks on my to-do list. I have to say no to this Martha self and tell her to wait, while I participate in my Mary’s ‘better part’.  When one is soaking in a tub, the door is closed to everything outside it. So should it be in the tub of the Holy Spirit.  The light of God’s candle shines, the fragrance of lavender wafts in the air, the sacred music touches the deep places of body, soul, and spirit.

This morning, as I was remembering and longing for the holiness and intimacy of some church experiences past, Adonai reminded me that this exquisite intimacy is always available to me, no matter where I am. His habitation beneath His Canopy, His Tent of meeting with its canvas flap, is open day and night because of His gift of Himself as Emmanuel.

There is an old praise song whose lyrics say, “Commune with Me...beneath the wings of the cherubim...I’ll meet you there...commune with Me....” Whether woman or man, we are His Bride; He draws us under the bridal canopy as His own forever. As Babe, Bridegroom, and Mighty Savior, He is always Emmanuel, God-with-us. He longs for us to come with swift, expectant feet into His dwelling place, where we find He’s also chosen to dwell within us.

Emmanuel, God with us, is also God within us.   When we yield ourselves to Him in grateful abandon, we are encompassed by Him in such a way that we don’t even know where we leave off and He begins. Yet we revere Him as Holy beyond our understanding. That He paid the price for us to be wholly and completely His in the midst of His holiness, is incomprehensible but wonderfully true.

Let’s push from us, as my mother used to say, ‘the tyranny of the urgent’ and instead urgently run into the arms of His Holy Spirit. Let’s soak in the vibrant quiet of the Holy Night and all that He offers us because of it, rejoicing in the Gift of His all-encompassing Presence.

Three impossible babes...

Has God ever foretold you of the impossible coming to pass? If so, what was your reaction? I’ve experienced or witnessed everything from excitement to willingness to confusion to fear to anger to abject denial.

Did you ever wonder at the differences between Gabriel's responses to Abraham, Zechariah, and Mary...when they were each told of absolute miracles about to take place?  I've always wondered why Gabriel was angry at Zechariah and consigned him to muteness, when He was not angry at Abraham or Mary.  Their responses to the news of an ‘impossible child’ to be born seemed so similar..  All three questioned him (or God, directly) as to how these things could be, would be possible.  Abraham even laughed.  (It wasn't just Sarah.)

Abraham: “You’ve got to be kidding! Do you know how old Sarah is?” [Is this the human emblem of faith from Hebrews and Romans  laughing at God?]

Zechariah: “That’s impossible! Do you know how old I am? I need some confirmed data here."

Mary: “But how will this be, since I’m a virgin?”

So I finally asked the Father about it. (Why do I take so long to ask Him about passages in His Word that are confusing to me?)

One of the downsides of our current electronic communication, versus face-to-face conversations or phone calls, is that we can’t hear intonations or inflections or see gestures and facial expressions. The entire attitude and connotation of what we’re saying is affected by how something is said (as well as conventions like punctuation, currently missing in most texts.) For example:

“Really!?” 1:   You’ve got to be kidding! That’s ridiculous! I’m having trouble believing that happened. Are you making this up?

“Really!?” 2:  WOW...that’s fantastic!  I’m so happy! How did this/will this take place? [Laughing in astonishment]

“Really!?” 3: I don’t believe it for a minute. You’re really stretching it here. Your credibility with me is sinking fast.

“Really!?” 4:: Wow...that’s a lot to take in. My head is swirling here. 

Since we weren’t eyewitnesses of these encounters (wouldn’t that have been awesome?), we don’t know the tones of their reactions or the expressions on their faces. However, we can perhaps infer from Gabriel’s reaction, the attitudes of their hearts.

Abraham:  “Ha Ha! That’s outrageously, impossibly wonderful! But if He says it, it will happen! I just can’t fathom how....  Have you seen Sarah lately? And I’m, well, you know.”

Zechariah: “I’m sorry, I’m just not believing this. It’s impossible, since Elizabeth and I are older than the hills. Nope. Not happening. Where's your proof?”

Mary: “This is amazing! I am so honored and am the Lord’s handmaiden. But can you tell me how this will come about, since I have never been intimate with a man?”

I guess the real question for each of us is: What is our response to God when He tells us of, or calls us to, the seemingly impossible? Do we remind ourselves that He is the God of the impossible? That nothing is impossible with Him? That, despite what ‘know’ with our human brain and mind, He  is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the world and is able to do all things...that our one job is to trust Him? We certainly may, like Mary, ask Him how these things will take place, as long as we have the attitude that they will and that we are His handmaidens or handmen, as the case may be. [FYI...He may or may not answer the how question, either, but we are welcome to ask.  Sometimes the answer is, as He once told me, 'wait and see!']

Mary, and I believe Abraham also, was simply asking about the how, not questioning, as was Zechariah, the will be. Therein lies the cosmological difference. Let's make sure we're ready to jump onto the moving train of God's will be, rejoicing in what He is doing, rejoicing that we are called to be part of it, and questioning only where we fit into His Plan.

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”   --Luke 1: 13--15; 19-20

“Do not be afraid,Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”   --Luke 1: 30-38

Genesis 17:16-18 New International Version (NIV)

16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 

Genesis 18:10-12 New International Version (NIV)

10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.  --Romans 4:18-21

Preparing the right gift

In this Advent season, as we prepare to celebrate both the first and second coming of our Lord, the continual search to please Him should be resounding in our hearts. What gift would He most enjoy for His Birthday present from us? When you love others deeply, you search for ways to delight them, to make them happy, to outdo them with kindness. The more Yeshua’s love pours out to Me, the more I want to love Him bigger. Don’t you?

When it’s the birthday of someone we love deeply, we don’t just quickly wrap a gift we’ve grabbed from the shelf at the last minute. We ponder and plan what would delight and surprise that person. We want to see his or her face light up in joy. Now, surprise is not an option for our Yeshua’s gift, since He already knows the future.  However, pleasure is.

Sometimes, when our children were young, we would write our birthday gifts to Jesus on slips of paper and put them in a wrapped box under the tree. We never opened this gift Christmas morning, but we knew He would do so, treasuring each one in His heart. Somehow that tradition faded away as we all got older. I wish we’d carried it on every year. This year I want to bring it back, even though our children have their own families now.

Let’s take time this Advent season to ask Yeshua what He would most like for His Birthday celebration this year. Is there someone you need to forgive? Someone lonely who would love your attention? Might Adonai be missing that time you used to devote to conversation with Him or just basking in His Presence? Is there someone He loves who would be blessed by a special gift? Would Yeshua love to hear you serenade Him with love songs?

Let’s draw in our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as family members in the Spirit. Write love notes, wrap them in boxes with loving care and determine to fulfill any outward or inward acts of devotion they might contain. May He be showered with so many gifts this year that we hear the echo of His laughter from Heaven.