God Is With Us!

Walking in the Truth during Advent (one more time)

Today's scriptures

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."  (Micah 5:2)

"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, & Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, & blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"  (Luke 1:41-45)

Today's devotional thoughts

My oldest child & his wife are expecting their first child toward the end of January. When they visited us for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed, not without a little nostalgia, watching him notice when the baby was moving. When she would confirm his suspicion, he would place his hand gently on her tummy & feel the baby squirm & kick.

I say "not without a little nostalgia," because it brought back warm memories of noticing my son squirm & kick while my wife was pregnant with him. And I got to place my hand gently on Lois' tummy & feel Nathan squirm & kick.

The words spoken by Mary's cousin Elizabeth must have been especially joyful to hear. Elizabeth's baby, who would be John the Baptizer, actually "leaped for joy" in her womb when he sensed the presence of the Messiah, his cousin, in Mary's womb. And Elizabeth blessed Mary for believing what the Lord "has said to her will be accomplished!" Contrast Mary's child-faith with Zechariah the priest's reaction when Gabriel announced the news about Zechariah & Elizabeth's miracle baby. If he was there when Mary met Elizabeth, Zechariah met the news mutely. [SEE Luke 1:18-20.]

The passage in Luke focuses on both John the Baptizer & Jesus. The words found in the prophet Micah focus on the Messiah, foretold in the mid-8th century B.C. The prophecy of the exact birthplace of Jesus, predicted over 700 years before His birth, still has the power to amaze.

Get this, however. Bethlehem Ephrathah, located in Judea, just a few miles south & a little west of Jerusalem, may have been the ancestral home of David, but in the time of Joseph & Mary, it was a backwater. Same was true in Micah's times. Very small, very insignificant. Certainly not where you would expect a king to be born, let alone the Messiah, the Promised One!

Do you feel small & insignificant? Do you worry about this present evil age? What about the world that our children & grand-children are living in? The world they have to look forward to? Do you feel that things are crumbling & you are powerless, just as God's people in Micah's day felt powerless against the growing threat of the Assyrian Empire that would soon devastate the Northern Kingdom of Israel?

Listen then to these words from the prophet Micah in 5:4-5:  "He [the Messiah] will stand & shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the Name of the Lord His God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And He will be their peace."

We, too . . . & our children . . . & our grand-children . . . & countless others over the ages & in ages to come have been & will be highly favored, too! 

Today's prayer thought

Stanzas 1 & 7 from a favorite Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (LSB Hymn #357).

O come, O come, Emmanuel, * and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, and be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
* "Emmanuel" translates as "God with us."