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Preparing a Manger

The book of Isaiah contains some of the most cherished, most quoted, most triumphant promises about God coming. Coming into our world, into our lives. Healing our brokenness, lighting our darkness. It’s a book of hope.

But I had forgotten about the first half of the book. The first thirty-some chapters are preparing my heart this Christmas. And the preparation has been hard.

Almost every chapter portrays people who have turned their backs on God, despise God, laugh at God. They worship things their own hands have made. They congratulate themselves on what they’ve accomplished, on the security they’ve built into their own lives, and even think they’ve found a way to cheat death. They believe in lies, because the lies are more pleasant to the ear than the truth.

In His anger and judgment, God repeats two words again and again, and they stay long in my mind … arrogance and pride.

Because He alone is God. He is sovereign.

God says the arrogant and proud are fools. I have a plan for the whole earth, He says, a hand of judgment upon all the nations. It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.

Yet, we think we are in control. We think we have accomplished, and we’ve decided our plan is better than God’s plan. We worship what we create; we look to human alliances to protect us and give us power. If we have not yet conquered death, we at least think we can evade it or deny it for quite a while.

God even has a bit of a laugh at this picture. Such people have made their bed, He says, but lying in it will not be as pleasant as they think:

The bed you have made is too short to lie on,
     the blankets are too narrow to cover you.

He alone is God. He is sovereign.

The sober warning to rebellious hearts is this:

Because you despise what I tell you
     and trust instead in oppression and lies,
calamity will come upon you suddenly —
     like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
     and come crashing down.
You will be smashed like a piece of pottery —
     shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
     to carry coals from a fireplace
     or a little water from the well.

A grim picture: The folly of anchoring to something other than God. The futility of scrambling to order and control our own lives. The hopelessness when we build on anything other than the foundation God placed when Mary laid a baby in a manger.

Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,
      a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
     Whoever believes need never be shaken.

There is our answer and our hope. There is the One we can cling to. There is the Rock to build upon that will not collapse. There is true security and stability.

He alone is God. He is sovereign.

My heart is pounded as I read and He forges His new creation. Daily, I must give Him my pride and my arrogance to shatter and pulverize.

Because Christ came to the stable. He did not come to a powerful palace or the proud temple. He could not enter the inn, full of the world’s business. He came to the manger, to the lowly and the meek, the broken and the humble. I want to prepare just such a place for Him now.

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Scripture: Isaiah 14:26; 14:24; 28:20; 30:12-14;28:16 (All NLT)

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Transformation in the Sanctuary

Take a look at Psalms 73. It opens with a verse about the pure in heart.

You might immediately hear that voice in your head saying, “Well, I would not fit in that category.”   Or perhaps you’re remembering some of your definitely un-Christlike moments this weekend. Maybe already this morning you’ve blown it, yet again.

If so, you’ll identify more with verse 2:

But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.

The writer of Psalm 73 knows his heart is not pure. He’s bitter and envious; the bad guys are not getting the punishment they deserve. They seem to be living trouble-free lives and have everything anyone could ever want, while I seem to have nothing but pain and trouble. Where’s the justice, God?

So he takes his questions and complaints to God. Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.

Psalm 73 is about a cleansing of heart, and here’s the key: Then I went into your sanctuary.

In the psalmist’s time, all kinds of regulations determined how and when one could approach God. When Christ died, He ripped all barriers away. Not only did He give us access to God, but now God comes and lives with us. The sanctuary where we meet God, where He opens our eyes and transforms our hearts, is no longer a literal building. It’s where you are sitting right now. Immanuel!

But back to this sad soul who knows his heart is not right and that he’s not doing so well in his walk with God.

In His sanctuary, God does have some answers to the writer’s questions about the wicked. But we’ll leave that for now. Something even more important happens: in God’s sanctuary, the psalmist sees his own heart: 

Then I realized my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
I was so foolish and ignorant —

Sound familiar? How many times I have said that about myself!  How many times I have denied myself inclusion in the “pure in heart” category. How many times my feet have slipped.

And that brings us to the good news. Yes. Good news in spite of what we may think about our failures. Good news, my friend, that you will hear in the sanctuary when you go to your Father. 

Yet still I belong to you;
     you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
     leading me to a glorious destiny.

Wow. I belong to Him. He knows I am dust, and still He claims me. This is a look at God’s heart.

And because I belong to Him, He continues to hold me by the hand, guide me with His counsel, and — doesn’t this just take your breath away? — lead me on toward a glorious destiny!

When we hear those words in the sanctuary, when those words picturing God’s love for us settle into our hearts, we are transformed. We go from feeling as though we are almost gone (v. 2) to knowing this:

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
     but God remains the strength of my heart;
     he is mine forever.

The psalmist opened by saying, “But as for me … I’m slipping and almost gone.” Now, after that transforming meeting with God in His sanctuary, he says, “Yes, I see that anyone who deserts God will be destroyed, will perish …

But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the sovereign LORD my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

What comfort it is to be near God, to take shelter in Him, to know that we belong to the Father and He does not desert us.  We come into His sanctuary, and we are changed.

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Christ’s Birth: Hope

Okay, I was admonished today. I’ve been focusing too much on my own hunger this season. Now it’s time to look outward.

The prod came from something I wrote last year about this time in response to a sermon on Matthew 3, the story of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness, preparing people for the arrival of Jesus. Pastor Don talked about the preparation that takes place in all of our lives, preparation for finally “getting it” and understanding the true message of Christmas. “I finally got it,” he said, “when I realized Christmas wasn’t all about me.”

Ouch. I heard it then, I hear it again this year. Yes, at Christmas we celebrate our rescue, our redemption. But Christmas is also about those who still need to be rescued. Christmas is the good news that freedom is possible. Hope for those enslaved, help for those who feel helpless, God for those who have been separated from Him.

John the Baptist was talking to the Pharisees about their false religion. Don’t be too smug, don’t feel too secure, he said. Unless your lives show true repentance, God will chop you down and throw you into the fire. You are not safe just because you are descendants of Abraham.

Then these words of John jumped off the page and grabbed my heart: God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. (v. 9)

John the Baptist may have been pointing to river stones as he said this, but to me, in 2011, the Spirit says … God can create children of faith from hearts of stone.

Is there a person you care about who has no reason to celebrate a real Christmas because he/she has not been rescued, does not see, has had no room for Christ? Have you sometimes despaired of that heart of stone ever being redeemed? Are you tempted to think it’s improbable or, even worse, impossible?

Yet, here’s the statement: God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

It’s the redemption story. It’s what Christmas is all about — God, bringing life where there is no life, bringing light where there is darkness.

Hear the message of Christmas hope … Christ was born for hearts of stone.

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Christ’s Birth: Immanuel !

I want a fresh Advent every day of this season. 

I do not want to commemorate a historical event. I do not want to get swept away by the commercial blitz. I do not want one short Christmas Eve service or children’s program or holiday concert to be the only occasion to think about a birth that changed my life and my hopes.

I want Him to come into my life now, today, every day, alive and powerful. I want the Spirit to birth new things in me.

And the good news is, that is exactly what Jesus said would happen!

Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” 
   (John 14:23)

What hope, comfort, encouragement — and awe — there is in this promise: The Father, the Son, and the Spirit will come and make their home with each child of God.

For those who long to know the Father better, this promise alone is enough to dwell upon today ….

“…we will come and make our home with each of them.”

Come, Father, Jesus, Spirit into all of my days.　

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Christ’s Birth: Rescue!

For the LORD has redeemed Israel from those too strong for them.
         (Jeremiah 31:11)

Do you have days that look pretty gloomy? When you can’t seem to get out from under the heavy clouds?

God has not only has redeemed us from a kingdom of darkness, but He rescues us every day from our enemies. In Psalms, David constantly rejoices that “the Lord delivers me from my enemies.” And that was not just some special arrangement God had with King David; God does the same for us, every day in all the hours of our lives.

Our enemies? They are external: Bombardment by society’s values and philosophies. Busy schedules. Financial strains. Health concerns. Temptation. Growing hostility toward Christianity. And they are internal: Discouragement. Depression. Doubt. Fear. Worry. Stress. Selfishness. Anger.

Make a list of your own enemies. You know what battles you must constantly fight, what things sometimes loom up and look impossible and overwhelming, the situations you are tempted to call hopeless, the dark things that sometimes hold you in a strong grip.

Here’s the good news: The baby born that night is alive today. He comes to redeem His people, to release us from enemies too strong for us and to reclaim us once again as His children.

Listen to what your Father tells you, His ransomed children who have been rescued:

He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. (Titus 2:14)

Let all that I am praise the LORD;
     may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
     and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
     and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
     My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
           (Psalm 103:2-5)

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. (1 Peter 1:18)

I have paid the price to set you free. (Isaiah 44:22)

In his love and mercy he redeemed them.
He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.
         (Isaiah 63:9)

I cannot tell you how important that last verse is to me. I have staked my life on it.

He promises redemption, freedom, healing, a life crowned with love and mercy, strength renewed, defeat of your enemies. He will carry us through all our years.

Many of my days that started under dark clouds have been redeemed. Bought back from a dark outlook. Reclaimed. Freed. Filled.

Look for your redemption every day. He says He will do it. And may we never forget all the good things He has done for us.

Then you can write your own Psalm, just a few lines declaring that, In his love and mercy he redeemed me. He lifted me up and carried me through all my day.

Amen. Thanks be to our Father.