At this point in Biblical history, Pharaohs come and go.  God’s plan still rules.  God even has a sense of humor about it.  Human power structures are only tools that God can use for His own purposes whenever He wants.

Look at the rich irony in today’s reflection.  Pharaoh was ticked off about the Hebrew people being successful even in slavery!  He was ticked because they were succeeding outside of his control.  In a power-hungry way, what was Pharaoh’s solution?  Kill the Hebrew babies.  If he couldn’t stop them from reproducing, he’d kill off what they produced.  So Pharaoh tried to have the Hebrew midwives kill the Hebrew boys at birth, and when that didn’t work, he issued an edict “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” (Exodus 1:22)

So Moses went into the Nile…in a basket.

Exodus 2:3 But when [Moses’ mother] could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.  4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Baby in the Nile in a basket, enter Pharaoh’s own daughter who decides to adopt him. 

Exodus 2:5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.   6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

Do any of you, my readers, have daughters?  I read this story of Pharaoh’s daughter and smile.  I begin to imagine the conversation if Pharaoh had one with her.  “Look what I found, Daddy.  Can I keep him?”  And in doing so, Pharaoh’s daughter is an unspoken hero for preserving the very one who would powerfully deliver the Hebrew people out of Egypt some day in the future (likely under another king)…all while her father was hoping to kill off the success of the Hebrews.

Back to our story:  Exodus 2:7 Then [Moses’] sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 

Does God chuckle?  One can only wonder.  Not only does Pharaoh’s daughter adopt and save the future leader of the Hebrews, she pays Moses’ mother to nurse him, and then gives Moses a royal education in Pharaoh’s own household.

Exodus 2:10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Oh, she did far more than draw him out. 
She was an instrument of God’s Divine Intervention.

Questions for further thought:

• How did God use this situation to thwart human abuses of power? 
• Moreover, how did this Divine Intervention pave the way for future deliverance? 
• In what ways do our current situations in worldwide politics display that humans can imagine all kinds of abuses of power, but God is still in control? 
• How might God be using the very weird 2020 to thwart human plotting the same way He did at Babel and the same way He did with Moses? 
• Where is the real battle happening?  Read Ephesians 6:10-13 for insight. 
• Why can we trust God even with 2020?

Let’s pray, Almighty God, holy and righteous Father, we praise You and thank You that You are sovereign over everything. We praise You and thank You that this world is firmly under Your control, that You know exactly what’s going on, that no amount of COVID, no amount of human wrangling, no amount of human abuses of power, no amount of planning, plotting, scheming, conspiring, defrauding, etc. can change the outcome that You have planned.

We praise You and thank You that we fight with weapons that are spiritual and that You are the leader of this cause in the spiritual realm.. for good to win over evil, for light to overcome the darkness, and for the truth to prevail in all circumstances.

We praise You, Lord, that You use even bad choices, bad edicts, bad laws, and rigged situations and utilize them to produce good. You can overcome it all because You are God. Thank You for the way that You have preserved Your people throughout history. We are confident, Lord, that You will preserve us all the way to the day of Your return! We thank You Jesus because You promised to come back and take us to be with You where You are! We thank You that there are places in heaven for those who follow You, and who love You, Lord. We thank You for this season of Advent– a time to turn our hearts towards You, a time to recognize who we are, what we’ve been, what we’re becoming. We ask that You would forgive us for the many sins we have committed against You. Please show mercy to us not because we deserve it but because You are good, You are holy, You are righteous, and You are love! We praise You Lord Jesus! Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

When we love and serve a God who is all-seeing, all-knowing, and ever-present, we need to understand that Divine Interventions happen on His time schedule, not ours.  In His ways, not ours.  And often with a convoluted path leading to surprising outcomes.

Such was the case with Pharaoh who didn’t know God at all.  In Pharaoh’s dungeon, Joseph the dreamer was there.  He knew God and moreover, God knew the plans He had for Joseph.  The path to get from the fields at Shechem (when Joseph was sold into slavery) to the service of Pharaoh is crystal clear looking back over history. As God would have it, one is an honest man who must be feeling like he’s rotting away in prison and the other, a Pharaoh in a lavish and comfortable residence. One of the two of them wasn’t sleeping well.

Pharaoh’s nightmares were Divine Intervention to fulfill God’s plan.

Genesis 41:14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.  15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”  16 “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Joseph (who knew God) was witnessing to Pharaoh who was treated as a god by the Egyptians.  Were it not for Pharaoh’s bad dream, there would never have been an opportunity for a prisoner to speak to such a powerful man.  It was a divine appointment made possible by Divine Intervention.

Questions for thought:

• When things are confusing in the unpredictable way they’re playing out, what is your reaction? 
• The year 2020 has been a confusing year.  “Chalk it up to 2020” has been the motto of everything that went wrong, everything bad that happens, everything substandard, random, strange, or abnormal.  What a year, yes?  Yet, perhaps the reason God laid the Divine Intervention thought on my heart for Advent devotionals is that He’s working in the spiritual realm, doing things we cannot see or predict to open our eyes to witness to people.  Everyone has been under the yoke of COVID.   Everyone is under the yoke of sin.  There is one Person who can take that yoke from us.  And He was born on Christmas Day over 2000 years ago.  His birth remains a pivot point of history.  His life remains a legacy of biblical and historical significance.  Jesus is our Reason for the season.  Are you living in fear of death under the yoke of COVID or do you know the freedom to truly live? 
• Death exists for one reason only: consequence of sin.  If you don’t know Jesus like Pharaoh didn’t, might COVID be a way to get your attention, to see the parallels, to know by experience what a yoke feels like—not so you’ll wither away under it, but so you will seek Christ who will free you from it?
• Why might the world’s powers be trying to ruin every holy day among Christians? Do you think it’s a coincidence?
  

Father in heaven, You are all-seeing all-knowing and ever present. You know the past, the present, and the future. You know how Your circuitous path can lead us straight to Your Son Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption from sin; in whom we can be released from the yoke of sin; the yoke of slavery to spiritual evil; and who can bring us into the true life that awaits eternally in Him. We thank You that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He’s the Way for us to come to You. He is the Truth–absolute truth–because You are absolutely holy, absolutely righteous, and absolutely wonderful! Jesus is the Life: in Him is this fountain of life that each of us needs and without it we perish in our sin. Just as some will die *with* COVID, yet some will live eternally because COVID on this earth resulted in repentance, a change toward freedom brought about by their turning to Jesus Christ in their time of need. I ask, Lord, that for any who do not know You but–like Pharaoh– this time of distress has been a Divine Intervention, an interruption of their days, to get their attention, and draw their focus to knowing what they truly need in this life. They don’t need masks. They don’t need hand sanitizer or contact tracing. What they need is Jesus Christ who was born more than 2000 years ago and whose significance is eternal. What He did on the Cross, in the tomb, and in His resurrection changed the entire course of human history. No mask, no hand sanitizer, no social distancing, nor hand-washing can free us from the yoke of slavery to sin from which there is no therapeutic. There is only one cure. Only Jesus can do that, so I pray Lord that You will take these words of mine, these prayers that I’ve been praying, these devotionals that I’ve been writing, and that You would touch the hearts of people… not for my glory Lord–I’m content being insignificant. I only ask You to use me as a humble, broken instrument of Your goodness and the instrument of Your will to awaken, wake up and shake up those who do not know You! May they come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ so they can be truly free … for Your Word tells us that the one that Jesus has set free is free indeed! We celebrate freedom in Christ, we praise You Lord for this Advent season looking forward to Christmas Day not because of presents under a tree but because of the gift You gave in Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Pop-tests were always the worst, in my experience.  Catching us off-guard.  Seeing how truly prepared and attentive we are at any given moment.  Testing our nerves, our resolve, and our knowledge.  Showing us who we are when we’re not expecting anything to happen.

Abraham had a pop-test to beat all pop-tests.  He wasn’t expecting it.  He hadn’t heard from God in ages.  Abraham was happily living his life with his cherished son named “Laughter”—you know, Isaac.

BOOM!  Divine Intervention. 
A pop-test coming from God looks like a good thing to God, but to us … well, it’s a test.
To Abraham, a Terrible Horrible Awful Test.

Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.  2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love– Isaac– and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

WHAT?????

Yeah, Abraham heard Him right.  God wanted to ensure that Abraham knew whether he loved the gift of Isaac more than the Giver, God Almighty.

Genesis 22: 3 “Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.  5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”   

So far so good.  “We will come back to you.”  Abraham was earning more than a participation trophy in the Faith Olympics. 

Genesis 22: 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

Hold on, Abraham is having his son carry the firewood, no small feat.  No small boy.  He’s probably a teen or a young adult by now.  Some time later?  Yeah, that’s some time.  Time enough to develop unhealthy attachments and turn a son into an object of worship.  Time enough to have taught his son what to believe about God.  Time enough to grow complacent or a little too comfortable.  Time enough to forget God’s promise about Abraham’s being the father of many nations, the blessing and all that.

Genesis 22: 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Father, my son, my son.  The test in a nutshell.  Given the nature of the questions and the probable age of Isaac not being a little baby or a toddler, one can only speculate about how Isaac was reacting to all this.  Dad, are you outta your gourd here?  No way!  Fist fight.  Or obedience?  We’ll never know on this side of heaven.  I’m glad I wasn’t there to see it and I’m glad that pop-test wasn’t mine.

Genesis 22: 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.   10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.  12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Divine Intervention. 
Abraham was proved faithful, not just to God…Abraham learned it by having been tested.

Genesis 22:13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Questions for thought:

• How might you have been proven in this?  How might your children have reacted? 
• Can you think of a way God tested you at some point in your life?  Has it been planned into your calendar or arrived unannounced? 
• In the beautiful pattern of storytelling, how does God give us a picture of a loving father and his only son? 
• Jesus became the Word made flesh, God’s Only Son, and He sacrificed Himself willingly for our sins.  And it wasn’t just a test.  It was for keeps. What is your reaction to this act of love?

Father God Almighty, I thank You for Divine Interruptions in our lives. Thank You for the faith of Abraham, for Isaac, and Jacob–the great patriarchs of our faith and what they mean in the background of Jesus Christ as His truly Jewish heritage.

We praise You Lord that You so loved us that You gave Your only Son to die for our sins so that we might have an eternity in heaven with You. We praise You for His faithfulness and thank You for the faith of all the Saints and the generations before us–how they are to us as a cloud of witnesses to encourage our faith.

We praise You Lord for the sinless life of Jesus, for His birth and the miracle that His birth was in the natural life of Mary and Joseph. A miracle, too, in the lives of the shepherds and to every other human being that has walked the planet whether we acknowledge Your goodness or not.  Our world would be irredeemable had it not been for Jesus. We would have been lost forever and truly lost. I pray Lord that Your divine patience and mercy will flow until such time as You return so that many can come to that saving faith and You would give us boldness to proclaim Jesus is the Way, our reason for this season.  We praise You and exalt You, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Do you ever find it interesting that the genealogies of Jesus of Nazareth–our Lord and Savior, the Messiah, the Christ–are different in Matthew’s and Luke’s versions? 

Luke’s goes all the way back to Adam to display the foundational level is humanity’s dire need for salvation since the Garden of Eden and the consequence of sin. 

Matthew’s is different.  His description of Jesus’ lineage is to focus upon Jesus’ Jewish background, all the way back through the patriarchs and the promise made to Abraham with the child of promise: Isaac.  This child of promise was Divine Intervention in the lives of two very old people, as fertile as dead ones according to Scripture (Romans 4:19, Hebrews 11:11-12).  Divine Intervention happened as a function of faith.

Genesis 21:1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.  2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.

Questions for further thought:

• Matthew was a Jew.  Why would it be important to him to document that salvation is from the Jews (Jesus’ words in John 4:22) as Matthew begins his Gospel for a Jewish audience? 
• Why is fulfilling of prophecy important? 
• In what way do the events of Advent fulfill Scripture?
• Luke was a Gentile (a non-Jew).  Why would it be important to him to document that salvation goes all the way back to Adam, is for the world, and not restricted to Jews alone?  Luke recorded his Gospel and the book of Acts with the early Church.  It was written for a largely Gentile audience. 
• How do both Gospels work together binding the two in unity of faith?  Read Zechariah 2:10-13 and note the references to the Jews and the nations.  “’Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the LORD. 11 ‘Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.  12 The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.  13 Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.’”

Father God, thank You for Your divine plan of coming to dwell among us here on earth. How amazing that Jesus Christ would lay aside everything from heaven to be born, to enter mankind–not as a ruler but as a servant of Yours! His mission was powerful, yet simple: to do Your will, to bind together the entire world as a people of faith, to be the Messiah You promised to the Jews as a blessing to the whole world, including Gentiles.

We thank You for the way the two gospels of Matthew and Luke work together to point out the very Jewish nature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His lineage and that salvation is from the Jews and yet the salvation He brings is for the entire world of those who come to You by faith.

We ask Lord that in these last days You would once again open the hearts of the Jewish people to see their Messiah, to see Him as their Savior, and many would come to faith in Him as the remaining remnant of the natural olive tree Your word speaks about.

We thank You, Lord, for this time during which the Gentile community has been grafted in. We thank You that You have not forgotten about the world in Your love for the Jewish people, and You have not forgotten about the Jewish people–Your Chosen People– in Your love for the world, too. We praise You for Divine Intervention in Your joining us together in unity of faith. Bring glory to Yourself by making us one in Christ, one in faith, worshipping You alone. We pray this through our Savior Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate at Advent. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

No more flood.  Got it.  God remembers.  But it doesn’t mean God doesn’t get fed up.  There’s a point at which everything reaches a boiling stage, and something must be done.  But now instead of a worldwide flood, there will be local interventions.  Divine Interventions.

Such is the case with Sodom and Gomorrah. 
God didn’t need an outcry to know what was going on.  He knew. 
Sometimes the outcry is so we’ll know where we are and what is becoming of our world.

Genesis 18:16 When the men (visiting Abraham) got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.  17 Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”

Hello.  Abraham was walking with them.  Somehow, Abraham knows what God is saying.  Obviously, the answer is No.  Can’t hide it after saying “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”  Hiding isn’t the point.  Displaying His “friendship” and concern for Abraham by God’s actions that speak “Of course not!”  For starters, He was elevating Abraham by including him. Why?

“18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

By saying “Shall I hide?” and then telling Abraham, God is causing a laser focus on the necessity of Abraham and his family’s doing what is right and just.  That’s the point.

Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous  21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

Questions for further thought:

• If God already knows why does He tell Abraham He’s going to check it out and know? 
• Think about the words Capricious and Considered.  Think about the words Callous and Consequences.  Why would it be important for Abraham to see God’s character? 
• Read the rest of the passage (Genesis 18:22-33) as Abraham interacts with God’s clear intent.  How is this “bargaining” to be understood?  Is it insolence on Abraham’s part?  Or is God honored by our engagement with His Divine Interventions?
• How does it speak to God’s character, love, and respect for the Creation He has made?

Father God Almighty, we praise You for Your plan overall, specifically for Your plan of salvation. We praise You that Your judgments against us are not rash or capricious but are considered as consequences of rebellion against You. We praise You that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day at the pinnacle of this Advent season.

We celebrate His birth as Your Divine Intervention to keep us from being punished for the sins that we commit. Certainly the outcry of what the world is doing, what we are doing to ourselves and to each other…O Lord, and to You… surely that outcry has reached You, Lord. Surely You are just as grieved by what is going on now as You were back in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We thank You Lord that Your judgments are righteous and holy, that You are a good and loving God, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We thank You that no one can come to You except by the blood of Christ. We praise You for the Way You have made…that by faith in Him, by obedience to You and Your word, that we have this hope of Salvation. This hope You provide is secure; it’s an anchor for our souls; and we praise You, Lord. Help us to see during this Advent, the vast importance of living holy and righteous lives, knowing that there is a day of Judgment coming. May we preach the good news of salvation to those in our circle of influence who do not know You. Be with us, strengthen us, give us words, and give us a heart for the world that You died to save. Do all these things we humbly ask, not only for our sake but importantly for Your glory, for it is in Christ’s Name we pray. Amen.

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• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Advent comes toward the end of the year.  Each of us has a past in this year (and with COVID 2020 has been a doozy!) and most of us have a past that includes prior years.  Sometimes that past is something we’d like to forget.  Sometimes our past is something we need to release to prior days, making a break, and leaving the past behind in order to embrace the future. 

Sometimes it takes Divine Intervention to encourage us to break with the past.

Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.  2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram (Genesis 12:1-7 NIV).

Abram was raised in a pagan world.  His father’s household worshiped other gods.  Making a break with the past would be necessary if Abram were to receive the blessing God was preparing to give.

Questions for further thought:

• Why do we need to release our past in order to have open hands to receive the future? 
• How would Abram’s worship of other gods interfere with that blessing? 
• Is there anything in your life that requires divine intervention to help you break with your past? 
• What blessings might God be preparing for your life if you leave your past behind? 
• How does Satan use our past to accuse us, entice us, or to try to thwart the will of God?

Dear Lord, we praise You that Your plan for our lives is a good plan.  You are a God of love, a God of blessing, a God of all goodness, of all power, and You are able to bring any blessing to fruition. 

By Divine Intervention, You can help any of us to leave our past behind.  Do not let our past failures or successes be used by our adversary as a tool for accusation or condemnation or pride. Lord, for those of us who are grieving actions we’ve had in the past, comfort us when we cry out to You, free us from pride and insecurity, guard our hearts against greed, anger, jealousy, hatred, envy, and resentment.

This past year, Lord, has been a tough one.  If there are any thoughts we’ve had that damage our witness, any unholy behaviors we’ve done, Lord, please convict our hearts through the power of Your Holy Spirit.  May we quickly repent of these things that stand in the way of the blessing You wish to give us.  Lord, we ask Your hand of grace to form us as powerful witnesses for You in a world that desperately needs to see Your light… the Light of Salvation, the Light of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

We praise You Father for this season of Advent during which our hearts can pause to consider why we needed a Savior.  Help us to know deep truth about the important intervention that Jesus’ birth represented then with ongoing results today.  We thank You, Lord, that because of what Jesus did, we can approach the throne of grace to receive mercy upon our lives, upon our families, upon our nation, and upon the work that You would have us to do to bring glory to Your Name.  Thank You for giving us a role in Your bringing many souls to salvation.  You are so good to us!  Amen.

===

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

So soon after the flood and humanity got a population movement going, what do we do?  We get right back to sinning.  We go right back to idolatry, making names for ourselves instead of glorifying the Name of God whom we should fear, especially after the flood.  But there we go again, more concerned about our name than His.

Genesis 11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

STOP THE PRESSES!
Now, interrupting this Scripture for an important time out! 
A one-world-movement was a problem then. 
What makes us think a one-world-movement is okay now? 
Look at what God thought of it.

“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:1-4)

Time for Divine Intervention!

“But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:5-6)

Is God a bully?  Knocking down people’s hard work? 
Nope.  It was Divine Intervention to save us from ourselves.

“The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel– because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. “(Genesis 11:7-9)

Questions for further thought:

• Why does God say that with humanity working together, nothing they plan to do will be impossible? 
• In Whose Image is mankind made?  What do people tend to do with what they create?  Why would God find that to be a problem? 
• Was scattering only a temporary solution since people can learn languages? 
• What other obstacles happen with “tribalization”?  Is it just language barriers? 
• Now think about unity. At Advent, we celebrate the birth of a Savior “for God so loved the world.”  “But the angel said to them, ’Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’” (Luke 2:10-11)  How was God’s way of unifying the world superior?  What is it based upon?

Lord Jesus we thank You for coming and reconciling all men to Yourself through Your shed blood on the Cross. We thank You for paying for the sins of all mankind. That You are so much more than divine compensation for our inadequacies or caulk to fill the gap that separates mankind from God.

Yet You require something important. You require faith and therefore the unification of all people… in Christ… would be based upon something solid, something true, something good, something noble, something lovely, something laudable…O, Lord that it would be based upon You! May our heart’s desire be to repent of our sins and to follow You.

We thank You that in heaven there are many nations, tribes, languages, and people, and that it brings glory to You by a diversity of people joined in one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God over all! We praise You, Lord Jesus, for Your faithfulness! We praise You for laying aside what You had in heaven to enter into the human race as a baby born of the Virgin Mary, a Christ Child whom the angels proclaimed and the shepherds celebrated. As we approach Advent, make us mindful of the arrogance of man and how any hope of globalist, one-world thoughts of man should be repented and replaced by unity grounded and founded only in You. Amen.

===

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

I can’t begin to imagine how frightening it must have been to be in the ark when the rain came down, and a world full of people cried in anguish as they watched loved ones die by drowning before succumbing to it themselves.  I hope the ark was soundproof or animal noises within made the noises outside inaudible.  But then the silence.  The horrendous, awful silence proclaiming how alone they truly were.  There was no one else left.  What would have been the conversation among family members as the rain pounded on the wood surrounding them? 

The rain stops.  The ground dries.  Everyone emerges to vegetation anew and the animals get released to start all over.

If there ever was holy fear of God in its most intense form,
this would probably be it.  God wants us to fear Him but not to be afraid of Him. 
He loves us. 
So He makes a promise—a Divine Intervention—to calm their frightened hearts.

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you– the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you– every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-17)

Questions for thought:

• What do you think about the story of Noah’s ark?  Do you find it unbelievable?  Why or why not?
• How often since that day has God reminded Himself of His covenant when His regret over humanity’s actions has risen to the point of total genuine disgust and a grotesque anathema?  
• What do you think of God’s giving Himself a reminder not to destroy us by a flood?

Lord God, Father Almighty, oh how our actions must grieve You. Lord, I know that we minimize sin, and we treat it as though it’s really nothing when in reality sin is a huge obstacle. To our having faith, to having a relationship with you, to our bringing glory to You because everything we do and everything we bring is greatly polluted by sin. Your holiness cannot tolerate it. Neither should we.

Lord, I thank You for this covenant that You have made… this rainbow in the sky as a reminder that You will never again flood the earth. Lord, we are amazed that instead of a flood You came Yourself in the Person of Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless life and died for our sins upon the Cross at Easter time. What amazing grace that we might find forgiveness and mercy and be able to come before Your throne in our time of need. Your goodness to us is beyond imagining, beyond anything that we could ask or deserve!

Lord, everything we have done in our sin nature grieves You. I don’t know how You look beyond it to see the face of Jesus in those who are redeemed by faith. But I praise You! Lord, may we use the privilege of Image-bearing rightly… to bring glory to You. May we come before You in repentance–in genuine sad repentance–over who we are and what we have become as individuals, as a nation, and as a world.

Lord, we ask that You would select those in whom You find favor and elevate them to leadership roles in our churches, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in our government. Father, it’s such an incredibly sad moment in American life where no one trusts anyone else and everyone believes the other is cheating. Lord, we know that You know all things. You see all things. You are everywhere at all times, and You know the truth of everything that has gone on in our past, present, and what will happen in the future. There is no hiding from You. There’s no getting around You–no standing there making excuses before You–because You know our hearts.

Forgive us, Lord, for all the ways we have pained You. Guide us, Lord, by Your grace and love and lead us to Your mercy. Without Jesus we would be without hope, so we thank You, Lord, for Your Son who came to this earth–Divine Intervention in a little baby born all those years ago in Bethlehem! We praise You for the way He showed us the true perfection of the Image of God, and we offer these prayers in Jesus’ holy Name. Amen.

===

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

God knows which people are His and which people are against Him.  This is not a modern phenomenon.  Why does God put up with people who hate Him, who rebel against Him, and who thumb their noses at the Almighty?

Love. 
Love for those who bear His image which is all humanity,
both the good examples and the bad apples. 

At some point, though, Scripture tells us that “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). That is a most ringing indictment of humanity if ever there was one.  Every inclination.  Only evil.  All the time.  Not a whole lot of wiggle room there. 

The LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created– and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground– for I regret that I have made them.”  8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:7-8)

Were it not for God’s Divine Intervention, a hard restart, it would have been a steep downhill slide with unprecedented velocity and not stopping until the pit of hell swallowed all of humanity up in a gigantic godless gulp.  No one would be left.

So God did what He had to…and I’d argue what He will be doing again.  It won’t be a flood this coming time, but when Jesus returns, God will waste no time in rescuing those who know Him and making sure that those who didn’t want Him get their dying wish.  As actor James Woods writes, “People who get what they want are often surprised when they also get what they deserve.” 

Questions for reflections:

• God made a distinction between the flooded and the favored.  Only Noah’s family was spared.  Why? 
• When Jesus returns, who will be rescued? 
• Noah had to build an ark. His participation was a huge act of faith since the ark was built when there wasn’t even a puddle.  What do we have to do in order to be rescued? Read Ephesians 2:8-9 for insight.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.“

If there’s someone on your heart right now
and you don’t know if they’ve decided to follow Christ,
today is the day to have that discussion. 
And pray for them like this:

Almighty Father, no one can come to You except by faith.  And only those whom You draw to Yourself.  I praise You and thank You that no one can snatch a person who has trusted in You out of Your hands.  I pray Lord right now for________ and I fear for their futures. I ask, Lord, that You would draw them to Yourself and that You would rescue them in the Last Day.  I ask that You would search my heart and know me… moreover that You would know my innermost thoughts. O Lord, I pray that You would teach me through the power of Your Holy Spirit how to live a life that reflects that I know You, a life that brings glory to You. I ask, Lord, that at Jesus’ return You will gather me to Yourself to enjoy eternity with You. For wide is the road that leads to destruction that narrow is the gate, as Your Word instructs us.  I thank You, Lord, for provision, for Your action when I didn’t know you…that Divine Intervention in sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins.   I thank You that Your promise never to flood the earth again was ultimately culminated in Your Only Son paying the price for all human sin so that–by faith–we could enter behind the curtain and approach the throne of grace to receive Your mercy.  Lord, when I think of those who don’t know You, please draw them to Yourself and Father, I pray that many would be spared and few would be eternally punished.  I know that Scripture says that You are the narrow gate but it also says You desire none to perish, even though we understand that some will.  Be with my family, Lord Jesus, help them to turn from sin and be saved by Your grace.  Be with my friends and help them to see the light and life of Christ through me. Use me, Lord, as Your willing servant, an instrument of peace. I submit myself to serve You.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.  Amen.

===

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

According to Wikipedia, a No-Go area is “a region where the ruling authorities have lost control and are unable to enforce the rule of law.”  Ah, but God never lost control.

God was never unable to enforce His commands or deliver His pre-announced consequences.  As we continue our look at Divine Intervention in our 2020 Advent devotional series, God began saving us from ourselves all the way back in Eden, declaring it a No-Go Zone.

Fig leaves.  Yeah, that’s what Adam and Eve could sew together to make coverings. 
God knew that would be totally insufficient for outside of Eden. 
“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
Stop the presses! 

Did God just create animal skins like fake fur?  Or did He have some other way of providing animal skins?  Like having an animal’s blood be shed in order to cover Adam and Eve in garments of skin? How did God do this?

Images of grace like this can be easily overlooked if we fail to read the Bible for all its glorious detail and think about what we’re reading.

“And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (Genesis 3:22)

Living forever in a state of unforgiven sin would not be heaven.  It would be hell.  God wanted better for us.  He planned better for us, but it would be many centuries until Jesus would be born in a stable in Bethlehem to bring that plan to fulfillment. 

“So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.   After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:21-24)

Something had to be done promptly as an act of grace until that time we celebrate at Christmas.  The delay between sin and Savior is the bridge of time in which grace performs its work of witness, repentance, Gospel, and gathering the elect, the full number the Bible speaks about (Romans 11:25, Revelation 6:11).

Questions for further thought:

• When God closes doors or says something is off-limits, what can we say about God’s purpose in it?  His actions will always reflect His ___(fill in the blank)______.
• How did God prepare Adam and Eve for life outside of Eden?
• In what ways does God prepare you for the time between meeting your Maker in His first Advent as Savior, and the final advent, the Second Coming of Christ for judgment?
• Ought Advent only celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?  Or is this season something far more?

Let’s pray,

Father God, We praise You and thank You for Your vast wisdom, for being all-seeing, all-knowing and ever-present.  We praise You and thank You that You don’t always give us what we want… in the time that we want things. But in timing that is Yours and for purposes only You know, we’re being formed for an eternity with You. 

We praise You and thank You for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  For His willingness to leave heaven and to be “God with us” we give thanks! He is faithful to show the way in our darkest of days, to be our Light, and be our Way.  We thank You for His birth.  We thank You for the faithfulness of all the saints who come before us.  We thank You, Lord, that Your plan of salvation didn’t just include a baby in a manger but a Savior on a Cross, a unique Son of God, fully God, yet fully man, the only One who could pay for the sins of all mankind. 

We thank You that those of us in Christ have redemption and salvation and forgiveness of sin, being spared from wrath that we rightfully deserved. We praise You and thank You for this bridge of time called grace. May we use it wisely to share the Gospel–the Good News of Your Son Jesus! May those in a watching world see and understand faithful Christian witness and may we live up to that high honor, Lord, of being called by You. In Christ’s Name we pray. Amen.

===

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.