Praise: The Silence Was Broken
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” – Luke 2:13-14
The weary travelers had settled down and the shepherds on the hillside watched their flocks…Earlier, Bethlehem had been filled with people – in town to pay their taxes to Caesar. But by now, dark night skies blanketed the city with stars and even partygoers had settled down for the night.
Silence. For four hundred years, God had been silent. Where was God? Did He even care? All of Israel longed for something…Anything…Anyone.
And then it happened.
A baby boy’s cry from a cave on the Bethlehem hillside pierced the night sky! But this was no ordinary baby’s birth! This was Emmanuel. God with us. The Savior of the world. Jesus!
All of heaven was so ecstatic they could not contain themselves! Angels burst into the night sky and shouted, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Lk. 2:14)
As you ponder the birth of the Christ-child this Christmas, try to place yourself on the hillside with the shepherds and imagine the scene. God with us. God with you. God with me. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)
And He still dwells among us…every day of every year – not just at Christmas time.
How can we not praise Him for His continual presence among us?
Father, You did an incredible thing when You fulfilled your promises by sending Jesus. God became man…You are still with us. We praise You for Your inexpressible gift to us! In Jesus’ name, Amen. *
Hope
“Hope” is an ambiguous word. Often, it’s the word we reach for when we want to say something kind in a situation that is outside of our control. We may tell someone, “I hope you feel better,” or “I hope you have a safe trip.” It isn’t wrong to “hope” for positive outcomes, but we should not confuse wishful-thinking with Biblical hope. When Paul calls on “Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1), it’s not a hope without certainty. And, when we are told that “Then nations will put their hope in His name” (Matt. 12:21), it isn’t wishful thinking. Biblical hope is the joyful expectation that God has accomplished – and will continue to accomplish – exactly what He has promised.
God promised the world a Savior back in Genesis when He told the Devil, who was disguised as a serpent, that his head would one day be crushed by one of Eve’s offspring. In hopeful expectation, generations of God’s people lived and died while waiting for Him to fulfill his promise. But on the night that it was fulfilled, many of them missed it. The “hope of nations” did not come loudly into this world, but humbly. God did not choose powerful elites to participate in the fulfillment of His promise. Instead, he chose a poor girl from a small town to give birth to the Son of God. The birth announcement that God’s children had been waiting millennia for was not given to royalty, but to shepherds. And the rabbis and religious leaders who had been combing through Scripture for signs of the Messiah, missed the star God placed in the sky as a sign, while wise men from the East took notice and knew immediately that something important had happened.
God’s promises are not always fulfilled in the way we expect, but we can be assured that He does fulfill them. As His children, the hope we hold to comes with peace and certainty.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 15:13, CSB)
Lord, we thank you and we praise you that you are a God who holds up your end, even when we stumble and fail. Our world is inconsistent and fickle, but the hope we place in You and Your Word is a hope with certainty. Amen. *
*”Praise: The Silence Was Broken” and “Hope” each appeared in our 2024 advent devotion for Northside women Celebrate Advent and the Christmas Season.
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