From Mess to Message

If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.  2 Timothy 2:13 (ESV)

I sat alone in my living room, recovering from the flu and a horrible lingering cough. While my body regained strength, my heart grew weary with regret. Christmas decorations still adorned my house. I couldn’t put them away because I wanted a do-over. 

The expectations of a joyful holiday had collided with disappointments: outdoor Christmas Eve service cancelled due to extreme weather conditions and our annual extended kinfolk gathering halted due to illness. Then the last day with our out-of-town daughter and her family concluded with misunderstandings and arguments. And yet, the hope of Christmas, Immanuel—God with us, abided with us. His faithfulness transcended all of our faithless uncertainties and divisiveness. 

Sitting solo in silence, I desired restoration with my people and forgiveness from God. I looked around the room and caught sight of the jumbled toy nativity set on a nearby shelf. It had provided entertainment for my two-year-old grandson. Tears fell as I stared at the jumbled mess. What a mishmash he had left. But what good news it now proclaimed!

God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son to provide salvation for sinful mankind.* Jesus entered a broken world in desperate need of forgiveness, grace, and mercy. He exchanged heavenly royalty for earthly humility, giving up indescribable power to be born a babe in a manger. Jesus lived life with humanity, modeling the love of His Heavenly Father. He was Immanual—God with us.* Through His crucifixion, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ gained abundant life on earth and eternal life in heaven for whoever would believe in Him. 

What love the Heavenly Father lavished on His children.* He sent His Son Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners.* And He loved me enough to remind me of His marvelous message of salvation through a little messy manger scene.

God composes messages out of messes. They’re evident, if we’re paying attention. My soul despaired until God spoke and thankfully, I listened. He brought new life to the new year. 

How was your Christmas? Did you confront discouragement, division, disaster, or defeat? How about the new year? Do you already feel like a failure? Have you lost all hope?

Let the image of a messy manger remind you of God’s love. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful. For He sent His Son Jesus into a wicked world, not to condemn us, but to save us. Now that’s a message this mess of a woman can take to heart.

*John 3:16

*Matthew 1:23

*1 John 3: 1

*Romans 5:8

A New Thing

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up;
do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 
Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

I'm stuck in the past and downcast. The trials of today draw my mind to former days when life seemed easier. Are you dwelling on times gone by instead of focusing on the present, the now? 

The year 2020 is about to be a memory, an impactful memory. It’s left devastation in its wake while replenishing each day with more uncertainty, fear, and hopelessness. Most of us long for the good ole days. Or we at least yearn for a change as we seek a better future. But what about today? What about now? What are we doing to make the most of our present? 

This year has sped by, but the days have dragged on. Trepidation, apprehension, and isolation have almost been established into our everyday routines. With many churches shut down, it appears hope is lost. The past materializes mentally as a divine dream while the present petrifies our day-to-day existence. The comfortable order of things has changed. Powerful people continually remind us to adjust to a new normal. We submit to fear and surrender to masks and quarantine. Anxiety blooms, worry flourishes, grumbling bears fruit, rotten fruit, and the will to thrive dies. The sight of our situation shakes our faith in an Almighty God. 

God’s chosen ones, the Israelites, also failed to recall the power of their Savior God. They had been enslaved in Egypt for over four hundred years. When the time was right, God delivered them from the injustices they had endured. He used Moses to lead His people out of slavery. God sent disease and death to cause the Egyptians to let His people go. As the Israelites fled Egypt, God parted the waters of the Red Sea, forming dry land for His people to cross over into safety. Those same waters swept away the enemies who had enslaved them. God’s people had witnessed a mighty miracle. It was then that they praised and worshipped their Savior God. 

Yet only three days later in the desert without water, they began to grumble against Moses and before God. “What are we to drink?” they whined. Oh how soon they forgot.

God performed another miracle through Moses as he threw a piece of wood into the water, turning it sweet. Imagine being a spectator of such supernatural phenomena. Wouldn’t your faith increase substantially? 

Because of God’s love for His people, He made a decree for them. He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and listen to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.” 
Exodus 15:26

God then added grace to His command. He provided springs of water surrounded by shade where His people could camp and rest for a while. What a faithful God.

But after traveling in the desert for a month, the Israelites began complaining again against Moses and before God. They said, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!”  Exodus 16:3

Were the Israelites stuck in the past, clinging to their slavery? Even though they had been removed from their brutal slave masters, they looked back to what seemed like a good thing. The comfort of routine, no matter how harsh, had become customary. But was it good? Were they allowing the wilderness in which they now walked cause them to forget the freedom they had gained by the hand of a Savior God?

“How quickly we forget God’s great deliverances in our lives.
How easily we take for granted the miracles He performed in our past.
~David Wilkerson”

We are no different than the Israelites walking in the desert. The stark reality of this pandemic called Covid has exposed, revealed, and uncovered abundant omissions about ourselves, our institutions, even the church. We believers have failed to heed the decree of our Lord, disregarding His spoken Word. Instead of standing up for God’s absolute truth, we’ve surrendered to the ever-changing morals and values of this land. Manmade religious traditions have enslaved us. Christianity in America has become casual, where only a crisis causes us to turn back to God. We’ve allowed the church to become a cruise ship instead of a battle ship. Our Heavenly Father never intended for us to have an apathetic relationship with Him. 

When God rescued the Israelites, He wanted them to rely solely on Him, to trust Him for daily protection and provision. He wants the same for us. Family and friends will disappoint us. The things of this earth will disappear. Religious and governmental leaders will let us down. But God never disappoints, disappears, or lets us down. He won’t fail us. He never changes. He, Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We can surely trust Him. 

Could it be possible that God has allowed disease and violence to restore in us a powerful prayer life? Deep faith in a trustworthy God will cause us to rely on His daily provision instead of looking back to what seemed comfortable. Why grumble about the presence of Covid, masks, lockdowns, and change. Instead choose to allow God to move us forward as He does a new thing.

Each day is a new day, another chance to begin again. God says to forget the former things, remember Him, and focus on the new thing He is doing right now. His mercies are new every morning. 
Isaiah 43:18-19, Lamentations 3:22-23

Do we have confidence in the power of Almighty God? Will we hear and follow His Word? Turn away from the deficiency of earthly things. Hope in the One who loved us enough to offer salvation in His Name, the Name of Jesus. Watch and wait expectantly for His new thing!

“God is not running an antique shop!
He is making all things new!
~Vance Havner”

“Trust the past to God’s mercy,
the present to God’s love,
and the future to God’s providence.
~St. Augustine”