Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative - A Daily Advent Devotional. 21. It Was Not A Silent Night Truth 21 Re: Born as the picture of vulnerability, the Savior of the world relates to the vulnerable. There was a time in history when the Son of God was a newborn baby—hungry, crying, and vulnerable. He took on weakness to relate to the weak. He took on flesh to relate to the earthbound. He knows our need. Our weakness is no stranger. Read Luke 2:1-7 (ESV) 1In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Consider “Joseph busied himself, though he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing. Make room, he thought. Carve out some space for her to have this baby. There was no one around to coach them, no one to tell them everything would be all right. “He held her and he prayed. “They thought of the angels who visited their dreams. They thought of Adam and Eve taking the forbidden fruit and how one of the consequences of that act of rebellion was shooting through Mary from head to toe, every three minutes now. “It was not a silent night. She strained and groaned and fought for every breath. She pushed as sweat beaded on her forehead. Joseph wiped her brow and told her a hundred times that he loved her, he loved her, he loved her. “Swept up in waves of pain and contractions, Mary continued to push and breathe and strain while time passed. Eventually, as if cresting a ridge, her labor gave way to delivery, and her groaning gave way to the sound of the cries and the coos of little lungs drawing in the breath of earth for the first time. “Joseph laid the baby on Mary’s chest, and to the wonder of the helpless man and the relief of the weary woman, they beheld him who, though he was the Son of God, was every bit a fragile, tiny baby.” (BTLOG, 152-153) Examine Take some time to imagine Jesus as a newborn baby. Imagine you were in that stable. What would you have seen? What are some of your own vulnerabilities Jesus has personally related to? If his strength is made perfect in our weakness, what are some of your own weaknesses that leave you feeling a need for his strength? Joseph and Mary would have likely felt that their baby was fragile, but if Psalm 139 is correct—if the Lord has numbered our days before a single one of them has come to be—then how fragile was Jesus in the manger? Applying that same truth to yourself, how fragile is your own life, really? Pray Devote your entire prayer this day to simply thanking God for the birth of Jesus. Thank him for the census, the full inn, the stable, Mary and Joseph, for all the details in play that night. amazon/Behold-Lamb-God-Advent-Narrative-ebook/dp/B0068LBOYG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr&qid
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:00:04 +0000
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