Archives: Devotionals
The Blessed Hope
We do not like to wait. But in the hurry of the holiday season, we are invited to slow down during Advent and pay attention to what we are waiting for. What is it that we are ultimately waiting for? For those who have given their life to Jesus, it is for His return. Yes, there are a lot of other things we might be waiting for, but ultimately it’s Jesus’ return that we wait for.
In our reading, Paul, writing to his pastor friend Titus, refers to the “appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” as the “blessed hope.” What are we hoping for? For Jesus to appear. We celebrate Jesus’ first Advent which in turn nurtures our hopes for the second advent of Jesus.
Today, let’s be reminded of what this season is really about. It’s not the shopping or the holiday parties; it’s about Jesus. And we don’t just celebrate Jesus coming as a baby in the past. We celebrate by anticipating His return in the future, the hope that is most blessed.
If you find yourself in a season of darkness, know that the Lord hears you and he will not fail you. We can trust God through any dark season of life because he is faithful. Cry to him out of the depths and know He hears you and will not forsake you!
Light to those in darkness
In the last part of Zechariah’s prophecy, he turns to speak over his son, John. He prophesies his role in God’s plan to bring salvation to His people. These are powerful words of promise: salvation, forgiveness, and tender mercy. He draws attention to what it’s like to experience these things from God. It’s like a sunrise.
2020 has left many of us feeling overwhelmed by the darkness pervading our world and by the depths of brokenness and pain running rampant – invading our lives, destroying cultures and nations. Does that ring true for you? Maybe you don’t know where to go or what to do. Maybe your feelings are overwhelming and causing you to feel in the dark. You might even be wondering if this will ever end. You are looking for the sunrise – for the dawn. And just as the sun faithfully rises every morning, so God will faithfully bring His word to pass.
As you read the verses today, imagine the sunrise. That is what it is like to trust God through the night and see Him come through at dawn. Stay connected to Him in prayer, which is meant for more than just requesting our deliverance from our season, but is for intimacy with God, who does hear and is faithful to save.
Remembering His Covenant
In our reading, Zechariah’s Holy Spirit-inspired prophecy is giving praise to God by noting that God has not forgotten His promises, and has remembered His covenant with His people. Zechariah praises God by celebrating God’s character and steadfast love – that He is fulfilling all He has promised to do.
When we are struggling and waiting, we are tempted to think that God has forgotten us, that he has forgotten His promises and might not pull through for us. This is the moment we must be reminded of God’s steadfast love. Zechariah’s words remind us of all the times God has been faithful in the past and that when He makes a promise, He will keep it! He may not fulfill His promise the way we want Him to, or when we would like Him to, but in the end, He is faithful to His word.
Psalm 77 is an honest prayer. It gives language to what it feels like when we are in tough times and struggling with difficult things. But the psalmist does not end there. He says, “I will remember…” When our feelings are overwhelming, we are invited to remember: remember what He has done for us, remember what He has done in Christ, remember what He has done for His people throughout history.
Can you remember a time God has been faithful to you? What direct impact on you and your family have you experienced because of God’s faithfulness to send Jesus for us?
“What will this child be?”
Today, we come back to the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They waited, they prayed, and God made them a promise that they would have a son. We continue this story with the birth of their son, John the Baptist. We need to note that this was not a young couple, but an elderly couple who just had a baby. God’s handiwork was all over this and it is important to see He gets all of the glory.
When people who are watching us, especially if they have previously looked down on us for hoping and trusting in God, we are tempted to cave into the pressure and give up. I’m sure the neighbors of Zechariah and Elizabeth had looked down on them for not having children. But now these same people are present for the birth of this miracle baby, and both Elizabeth and Zechariah give God all the glory. Noticing this was obviously God at work they, in amazement, asked, “What then will this child be?” In other words, when God does something miraculous, it causes people to pay attention and give God glory. And this does not end with those with those who see the miracle first hand, because the word always spread – just as Zechariah and Elizabeth’s neighbors spread the word of this amazing miracle over all surrounding villages.
We have the same opportunity. When we put our hope and trust in God, it will look strange to people, maybe even cause them to look down on us. But when God shows up in our lives in an obvious way, people can’t help but give God the glory. We are invited day after day to place our hopes and trust in God, who works all things together for our good and for His glory.
Where have you placed your hopes?
I want to challenge how you look at hope today. Instead of thinking about hope primarily as something you desire to have in the future, think about hope as where you are placing your trust. We don’t just hope for something, we hope in something or someone. What or who we place our hopes in is where we are putting our trust. When you have to wait for something and get frustrated when you cannot exert any control to make it happen, you can who your hopes in – yourself.
We may place our hopes and trust in ourselves, family members, or our jobs or income. We may place our hopes and trust in economies or governments or businesses. As followers of Jesus, we are called to put our trust in Him, the Creator of the Universe, the Savior of the world. But because we are so busy and distracted, we often slip into trusting other people or entities rather than Him. If you are having to wait, notice where your trust is – where you have put your hope in today.
Psalm 62 is a prayer that refocuses us on who we are waiting for and in whom we should place our hope in: God. These verses remind us of the character of God, who shows us steadfast love and who will keep all of His promises. He has been faithful in the past, and He will remain faithful until the end.
Out of the Depths I Cry
We live in between the two advents of Christ, where light and love broke into the darkness and brokenness of the world. Jesus overcame the darkness and released healing into the brokenness of our lives and world in His first Advent.
And yet, we still see overwhelming darkness pervading our world and such depths of brokenness and pain still running rampant, invading our lives, destroying cultures and nations. We have moments, even seasons, where we feel like we are living in the dark, in the depths.
In our waiting for Christ’s second advent, we need to acknowledge the tension between light breaking forth into the darkness and overcoming it, but not annihilating it yet. It is still present, but we do not have to give it power! Healing has been unleashed into the world, but total restoration isn’t complete yet.
We remember God’s faithfulness in the past; we anticipate God’s promises of the future, and we hope while we are in the present. And in the darkness, while we are waiting for the dawn, we pray.
What are you waiting for?
We are not accustomed to waiting. We like our drive-thru’s and self-checkouts and microwaves. We are immersed in cultures that provide what you want, when you want it. And if we do not get what we want, the way we want it, when we want it, we are able to go somewhere else to get it. With modern technology, we have a near infinite amount of information and entertainment right at our fingertips. Over years, and even decades, of being immersed in that kind of culture, we are conditioned to see waiting as a nuisance which makes us frustrated and even angry.
Is that the way to follow Jesus today?
With the ability to spend minimal amount of energy to avoid waiting, we come to think that we are in control of life – that our lives happen on our timeline. Only to get the painful reminder that we are not truly in control when we are forced to wait. But what if being forced to wait provides us with an opportunity? What if waiting is the moment we can recognize that yes, we are not in control but we can trust God who is in control?
This week, the reading plan will focus on an elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were righteous and devout, but childless and unable to have children. In this part of the Nativity story, we are invited to see our lives through this couple – waiting, hoping, and praying, yet being disappointed and discouraged. Suddenly their lives are interrupted by an angel who says, “Your prayers have been heard.”
We encourage you to reflect on these questions as you read this story this week:
What are you being forced to wait for? What have you been hoping for that doesn’t seem to be happening like you want it to? Has disappointment and discouragement creeped in? What would it mean to release control to God and trust Him with your hopes? What would your prayers be while you wait?
Allow Psalms 130 to be with you all week as a prayer that expresses your hopes and your trust in God.
Matthew 27:57-66 (ESV)
Jesus Is Buried
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Matthew 28: 1-20 (ESV)
The Resurrection
28 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
The Report of the Guard
11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
The Great Commission
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 27:27-56 (ESV)
Jesus Is Mocked
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
The Crucifixion
32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
The Death of Jesus
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.