God With Us: In the Tension
The promises have been spoken.
There’s a child coming, and something great beyond understanding is underway.
Reading: Today, there is no reading.We’re in between the announcements and the fulfillment. We’re sitting in the tension, so let’s take a moment to reflect. Whatever connected with your heart, take some time to remember God is with you there.
Song: The Holly and the Ivy by Andrew Peterson
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Elizabeth and Zechariah have their longed-for son. He came just as the angel had said, but it’s hard to think this tiny, warm bundle would turn hearts around and speak with prophetic power.
News gets around of the miraculous birth. People wonder and whisper, “What will this child be?!?”
But John’s parents only see a sliver of what’s to come, and nobody has answers for the questions.
They just have to sit in the tension
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Joseph has welcomed Mary as his wife, sheltering her from shame. Her heart swells with gratitude; were it not for him, she may have lost her life. And what would have happened to the child inside then?
This strange calling, this unbelievable burden, maybe it knit them together. It didn’t make sense at all, but they had heard the promises and stories their whole lives.
But there are so many unknowns. Would people ever believe this baby wasn’t conceived out of wedlock? How can that sort of stigma apply to a child “who will be called holy, the Son of the Most High?”
What happens when you simply say yes to something you can’t comprehend?
“I’m the Lord’s servant. Let it be just as you say.”
Suddenly, things are changing. Months pass, and her body swells and rounds. They can’t hide it anymore.
Joseph has to go to Bethlehem for the census – his whole family probably has to go. And she’s getting close.
Can you feel their heartbeats quickening?
Sometimes, we sit in the middle of this tension, clinging to promises that seem so crazy.
The glorious announcements are months behind. The time is nearing, but not here yet. We desperately want to move into the next phase, or go back to the excitement at the start of the journey.
But we can’t. We have to walk slowly through the desert-center of our stories.
Some days, we might be terrified. Other days, we’re desperately bored with the mundane.
But we are not alone in the in-between. Even here, in the tension and discomfort, our God is coming close. He may seem silent, but He is near.
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*These devotions are inspired partly by Andrew Peterson’s gorgeous album, Behold the Lamb of God:Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. You would love it in your Christmas music collection <3
