It was almost like the excitement of Christmas morning!! (Actually, it was still dark but it was Christmas morning in the birth narrative of the Christ Child.)  The angel, probably giddy with excitement like a toddler couldn’t even wait for sunrise, rushes to wake up and proclaim to the shepherds there’s a seriously amazing gift just arrived! 

Be Still, angels. 

Just proclaim it.

Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 * * *

Don’t you find it interesting that the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger isn’t the gift per se?  That’s only a sign.  The gift is the Savior.

And it’d be 30 years before that Baby Jesus, the Christ Child, would be–visibly and demonstrably–our Savior.

Be Still.  Take a moment to step out of hustle-bustle of Christmas and ponder the reality of this.  We celebrate the sign.  The gift wouldn’t be fulfilled until 3 decades later at the holidays we call Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

Thirty years!  And we get frustrated by 2 weeks with Amazon.  Will a gift arrive in time for Christmas?  Or will we have to make a card with an IOU for when it shows up finally?

Baby Jesus was not God’s IOU.  The angel was proclaiming that the Savior HAS BEEN born to you.  He IS Christ the Lord.  But the baby in a manger is just the sign that points to His identity.

* * *

Be Still, angels.  The Incarnation is exciting news!  Share it with all the joy His birth offers.

Be Still.  It will be thirty years and you can pace yourselves.  Jesus would not rush straight from the manger to the Cross.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  It will take thirty years of living, teaching, and revealing so that the world will know that Jesus is My Son and He finishes the work of revealing Me.  John 14: 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Matthew 11: 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 27 All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Questions for Reflection:

1. How often are we tempted to worship the sign, the wrappings-if you will-rather than the gift?  Do we grasp the profundity of God’s giving us the Savior?
2. Thirty years is a long time to wait.  Were the angels and the shepherds premature in their celebration?  Why or why not?
3. What was the purpose of the proclamation of His birth? 
4. What was the purpose of the thirty years?  How much could the Incarnate Christ actually reveal of an infinite Father in that period of time?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

I wonder how angels feel about the task of sharing news that doesn’t impact them and they don’t even understand.  “A Savior has been born to you.”  Why to people and not to angels, too?  (The angels might ask, “What about us?”)

Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

“He is Christ the Lord.” 

How is this all going to happen?  How will He save?  How will He be the Christ?  How can He possibly be the Lord?

Just look at Him:

He’s a baby.

Here’s the thing though: angels are created beings.  They have many of the same limitations we have.  And Scripture even tells us that the angels long to know.  They wait in eager anticipation. 

1 Peter 1:10 “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”

And yet Scripture also says that we don’t have the full picture now.  Nor do the angels.  We’re all in the same boat. 1 Corinthians 13: 8 “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears…12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 

One of the great mysteries still unfolding is how and when the Jewish people will be grafted back in.  We don’t know.  Angels don’t know.  But they long to.  And maybe we should too.

 * * *

Be Still, angels.  It’s not your job to know right now.  Right now your job is to announce and to marvel.

Be Still.  My plan is unfolding just as it is supposed to.  You’ll know when the time is right.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I AM the God of angel armies and the God of Israel and the Gentiles.  Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Angels, Be Still, be patient: you’ll have a front row seat when the time is come for My Son to return.  Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.”

Questions for Reflection:

1. How likely are you to want to be in-the-know? 
2. Are you content with curiosity? 
3. Have you ever been asked to do or convey something that wasn’t explained fully, knowing your job to be only a courier and not a teacher?  How did that make you feel?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

Luke 1:9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

I don’t know what would be more terrifying:  an angel of the Lord or the glory of the Lord shining all around my location.  Both would be completely out of the ordinary and sure to turn my world upside down: from real world to supernatural.  It’d quickly go from my eyes and ears and straight to the marrow of my bones.

What do you think of the supernatural?

Something about the supernatural makes it way too easy to dismiss in American culture.  We pass it off as fantasy, impossible, stuff of the movies and we’re entertained by it, but our rational, fact-based approach to life calls us to disbelief.  Oh, don’t take it seriously, our minds tell us. 

There must be an explanation for how it works.

So one minute these shepherds are admiring the starry, starry night, and then the next minute they’re scared out of their sandals. 

They took it seriously. 

As should we.  Still.  Awe-struck.  Terrified, even.

 * * *

Be Still, shepherds.  This is really happening.  And terror is totally understandable.  Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  Be still, be wise.

Be Still.  I invented the supernatural.  I am at home—every bit as much—in the supernatural realm just as I am in the world and universe I created.  But, I don’t live in a house made by hands.  (Chuckling) If you only saw where I live…

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  About Me, Isaiah writes, Isaiah 33:5 “The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.”  So go ahead, be terrified.  I won’t be offended.  It shows you’re seeking the key to a treasure you don’t understand, nor could you from your real world perspective—that My world is just as real.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I have something important to tell you.  Prepare yourself.  Turning your world upside down is about to take a cosmic and exponential turn and you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.  Just wait until you see My Son!  

Questions for Reflection:

1. Why is it hard for rational and logical people to accept the supernatural? 
2. In what ways are miracles and supernatural events embraced as reality in tribal cultures and in ones far from modernization? 
3. Do you think modernization is a hindrance to faith, a help to faith, or doesn’t impact it either way?  Why would you give that answer?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

Conflicts between one’s work and one’s spiritual life are nothing new.  They’re as old as the Garden of Eden.  Adam was put in the Garden to work it, but the competing voice to be one’s own master called out, “You will be like God.” 

How is it possible to protect yourself from letting your work be your god, and convincing you that all blessings come from yourself and your hard work?  Is it only Americans who fight this I-am-my-own-master-and-the-world-is-my-oyster mentality?

Self-made men and women soon become self-destroyed men and women.  

I see it all the time.  Even people who once followed God lose sight of Him when all they see is themselves.

Only those who have learned to Be Still When You Work know the joy of fruitful employment and prosperity as blessing.  As we look at Still Christmas, Advent Devotionals for 2017, let’s look at how to Be Still When You Work in Luke 2:8

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.”

Maybe the challenge is a modern problem because these shepherds didn’t have the dings, bings, chirps, and fanfare of a bazillion emails and text messages calling them off-task to the electronic brush fires that seem to command our every attention. 

Maybe there’s something about living in the fields without modern conveniences that allowed these shepherds to Be Still.  Turning off the noise.

Watching over their sleeping sheep.

It was night and the sky was filled with stars.

* * *

Be Still, shepherds.  Keep watch over your sheep, but never lose the awe of the star-filled sky I put there.

Be Still.  You may be shepherds and considered bottom of employment ladder by your culture, but you haven’t lost sight of what’s important and that makes you winners in My book. 

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I created everything. It’s My joy to share it with you.  I placed the awe in your heart.  Indeed, My character and nature demand it.  Never lose sight of that for the sake of work I gave you to do.  All are blessings from My hand. Worship the Giver, not the gift.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Isaiah speaks from Me to you.  Isaiah 40:26 “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

Questions for Reflection: 

1. In what ways does work command our attention and pull us from God?  Does it always?  Must it? 
2. Even in ministry, is it possible to be so focused on performance that what we gain in familiarity with the Scriptures, we lose in awe of God?
3. How big is your God?  What types of things diminish the size of God in your eyes?
4. What types of noise are present in your life, particularly at Christmas? 
5. How does performance present noise that calls our attention away?  Is this noise spiritual or earthly or both?
6. What noise can you turn off in order to Be Still, recapture your awe of God, and focus on the meaning of Christmas? 

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

Luke 2:6 “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

For women who have given birth, we know that birthing the baby is only part of the event.  After Joseph received the Christ Child in his hands, he probably gave Jesus to Mary to hold while the rest of the birth process unfolded.  The cord.  The placenta or afterbirth.  We don’t normally think about these things and you might be thinking, “Hey, Barb, this is a bit too much information.  Gross.  We don’t need to think about this at Christmas.” 

Still yourself in the moment, in the reality, because there’s beauty in it, and a lesson for our lives.  Jesus didn’t just pop out looking like a fully swaddled, plastic baby Jesus in a plastic Nativity set. 

Unlike the whitewashed moment in the picture for today, in bloody reality, God HAS experienced—and in Jesus alone—WILL experience birth only once.  He was Mary’s firstborn.  And in His real, normal, and beautifully gross birth, He goes through the first of two events that mark humanity that previously God did not know … by experience.  In Jesus (and Jesus alone!) He’d know them both: Birth and Death.  Inaugurated into humanity in a bloody birth event.  And His life ending with His own blood shed for mankind.

Seeing that Jesus’ birth was both normal and human reminds us of what He entered when He was born.

Mary would deal with first and only experiences too.  Firstborn children are sometimes considered “practice children” because we make all our parenting mistakes with the first one and hopefully learn our lessons when the others come along.  Jesus was firstborn and yet, the only One we could ever call the Son of God.  And yet, think of how humbling it is: the God of the universe, entering the world from the womb of Mary just like any other baby enters through his/her mother’s birth canal.

Just as first-time fatherhood happened for Joseph and he’s dealing with midwifery … for Mary, first-time motherhood began.  Just like that.

* * *

Be Still, Mary.  Just because He’s My Son doesn’t mean He won’t be cared for or raised as any other firstborn son would be.

Be Still, Mary.  There’s beauty in this miracle, the intersection of the supernatural and the natural.  Enjoy how the miraculous can seem so entirely normal.  The miraculous and the natural are both in My wheelhouse and I can perform both with the same ease.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  In this birth, I AM not expecting you to do miraculous, only accept that I’m entering your ordinary in “Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:5-7

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  You will never become gods, but I AM fully God and fully man in My Son Jesus.

Questions for Reflection: 

1. God may know all things, but there are things God will never experience.  What things will God never experience? (Hint: many are summed up in a 3-letter word rhyming with pin).  
2. In what ways do the miraculous and the natural collide?  Was Mary’s 9-month pregnancy natural after the initial miracle?   
3. I have gone to great lengths to describe Joseph’s likely role. In Leviticus 12:1-7, the purification rites for post-childbirth are mentioned.  What sacrifice was Joseph making? 
4. Knowing that her baby is God’s Son, how might Mary have been tempted to treat Him differently?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

PS. Again, please note (and forgive, perhaps) the inference of what Joseph would be dealing with, since it is not explicitly stated in Scripture.  I merely intend this as a corrective to a sanitized version of the birth of Christ that removes what is human in favor of what is superhuman.  Scripture tells us Joseph and Mary were there … and we know childbirth is what it is, Jesus’ included.  Normal Joe, normal Mary, and now normal Jesus from a very normal birth.  It all adds to the mystery and ought to bring us through stillness to the place of marveling at what Jesus gave up in order to be “God with us.”

As we continue our look at Still Christmas (Advent Devotionals 2017) and the earthly assaults upon spiritual stillness, I’d like to look at the birth of Christ from two different vantage points: Joseph’s and Mary’s.  The Bible doesn’t say that any other human being was there for Jesus’ birth.  No midwife.  No mother of Mary.  No mother-in law.  No sister.  No aunt.  No cousin.  No stranger.  Just Joseph and Mary.

I live in reality.  A woman might give birth on her own, but Joseph likely wasn’t waiting in the waiting room for a cow or a chicken to come out and tell him, 

“It’s a boy!” 

Joseph, being a guy, likely didn’t have much experience (if any) as a midwife. 

Yet, there he was. 

Mary’s in labor and he’s doing more than coaching Lamaze breathing and getting the camera ready. 

Luke 2:6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

More would be asked of him when he already knew that this isn’t his baby per se.  If there were paternity tests back then, whose DNA would have been Jesus’ father’s?  God doesn’t have DNA…or at least He didn’t until Jesus was born and took on flesh. 

So put yourself in Joseph’s sandals for a moment.  He didn’t sign up for this.  It took him by total surprise and he’s told to deal with it.  He may have been thinking,

Aw come’on, when Moses was born, even his mother had a midwife!” 

Not here.  Nope, it’s just Joseph and Mary.  That’s it.  So I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that Joseph would be more intimately involved in the receiving of newborn Jesus than most men are in the delivery of their children.

* * *

Be Still, Joseph, you can do this! 

Be Still. I AM giving you a joy and a privilege no other man or woman will EVER experience.  Not even Mary.  Your eyes will be the first to see My Son.  Your hands will be the first to touch Him, no other person will touch Him before you.  Furthermore, My Son’s first human touch experience outside of the womb will be those carpenter hands of His earthly father.  Yes, Joseph, yours. 

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  1 Corinthians 2:9 “However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'”  

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Treasure this reward for your faithfulness.  I planned, Joseph, that this would be yours and yours only.  Forever.

Questions for Reflection: 

1. What obstacles might you have needed to get past in order to willingly do a task normally assumed by a midwife?  Or one traditionally belonging to the other sex?
2. Just speculation: whose DNA do you think Jesus had as His earthly father’s?  Why might Joseph’s DNA add to the burden of faith required in the miraculous?
3. First-time fathers don’t know how to be fathers just as first-time mothers don’t.  How might the demands of fatherhood have been complicated for Joseph because of who Jesus is?
4. How would spiritual stillness be required to know what to do?  How did Joseph’s being a righteous man help prepare him for that?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

PS.  I hope you don’t mind today’s inferences that aren’t explicitly stated in Scripture.  I firmly believe no mid-wife would have been there to be able to boast, to interfere, to gossip, to cast doubts and aspersions into this truly special moment.  I cannot bring myself to believe that Joseph who had been faithful to the angel’s assurances would have intentionally left Mary in her hour of need to birth the Christ Child on her own.  I believe Joseph loved Mary and would have embraced the role he’d never imagined because he believed God and his righteous heart loved deeply.  Furthermore, I believe God would have set this as a pattern of sacrificial love and the great importance of fathers.  For all American society is doing these days to men and fatherhood, I believe it’s high time to lift men up as the valued individuals they are and for the important role they play in a healthy, functioning society.  Without diminishing single motherhood as a difficult road some women are forced to journey, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say God wanted His Son Jesus to be birthed into a nuclear family of a husband and a wife–one man, one woman–as a demonstration of His will for mankind made in His image.  Since nothing is impossible for God, there is intentionality in His choice of parents, location, and the beautiful humility into which Christ was born.

Luke 2:5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Joseph and Mary plod along, days on the journey to Bethlehem.  Let’s continue our look at Still Christmas (Advent Devotionals for 2017) and let the Bible’s Christmas narrative be transparent and totally real with a look at this 3-day journey.

Did Mary and Joseph chat in lively conversation on a long road trip like young lovers?  Or were their thoughts elsewhere?  Scripture doesn’t say, but human nature being human nature, they probably had their share of quiet time.  While Joseph was likely contemplating a variety of things as the leader of their household and doing his duty to the government, Mary probably was thinking her own share of things. 

Maybe they talked about them together and hashed this stuff out as a couple.  Maybe each needed to process this whole situation individually.

My point is this: We cannot turn Mary and Joseph into felt-board or cardboard versions of themselves, characters without thoughts or feelings or a range of relationship hurdles.  They are often depicted with halos as the Holy Family, but the truth is they were flesh-and-blood normal Joe and normal Mary whose halos are just an artist’s rendering. 

Yet, we hold them up as a model family because of their obedience to God and that’s a well-deserved compliment to them.

Their obedience transcended life’s inconvenience.  The inconvenience to their marriage, their families, their travel for 3 days to fulfill a government duty and for Mary, the added inconvenience that pregnancy is frankly not a comfortable experience.  She’d no doubt gained weight, worried about how the pregnancy would go, had swollen feet and had the baby Jesus pressing on her bladder and into her lungs…just as other pregnant women experience.  She’s traveling a long way under very inconvenient circumstances because it was more important to her to obey God, day in, day out, all the time, even when it’s inconvenient.

 * * *

Be Still, Mary.  I will see you through this pregnancy and this journey.

Be Still, Joseph. My sovereignty didn’t end at the border of Galilee.  I AM still with you.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  As I was with Joshua, so I will be with you, Mary, and yes, I’ll be with you, Joseph.  I AM in this with you both.  Deuteronomy 31:8 “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Though today’s path means inconvenience, this journey will be successful because it fulfills what is written: Matthew 2:6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'” 

Questions for Reflection:

1. How do you react to life’s inconveniences? 
2. Why do you think people want to make Mary and Joseph seem superhuman? 
3. In what ways does allowing them to be real make the birth narrative even more profound?
4. When Joseph and Mary are permitted to be normal people, dealing with inconvenience and obligation, what does that mean for our obedience?  Does it raise the bar for us to live as model Christians, too, or does it lower the bar to become an achievable, realistic goal, or both?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

Luke 2:4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

Nazareth to Bethlehem.  That’s 98 miles.  Google says it takes 1 hr 53 minutes with light traffic on this low traffic road.  That’s by car.  But there weren’t cars back then.  You walked or you rode.  Most people walked.

So, this was a trek.  It was a duty to the government and it wasn’t like going to your local DMV to get a driver’s license renewal. You probably packed, bringing a change of clothes and money for lodging or whatever food you didn’t bring with you.  After all, it was a 3-day trip unless you’ve got a pregnant wife slowing the whole thing down.  As we look at Luke 2:4 in Still Christmas, Advent Devotionals for 2017, we can see that simply doing your duty to the government was an ordeal of biblical proportions.

Yet Joseph did it.  He did his duty.

How must Joseph have felt?  He’d been told in a dream not to be afraid to bring Mary home as his wife (Matthew 1:18-21), but a long journey wasn’t what he’d originally had in mind. Neither was a pregnant wife who wasn’t pregnant by him.  Yeah, an angel told him that Mary was carrying the Messiah, but here he is, journeying days fulfilling his duty when he wasn’t really “the dad.”  He didn’t even get a chance to weigh in on naming the baby when He’d be born.  In essence, God said to Joseph, you’ll call him Jesus.  You’ll do it and God’s Son won’t even be called Joseph Jr..

Prudence.  Honor.  Obedience.  Duty.  What’s in it for him?

What do you suppose went through his mind during Mary’s pregnancy and all along this trip to register?  Does he list Mary as his wife?  Probably.  That’s true.  What about family?  Does he list Jesus as his son…?  Joseph was a righteous man we’re told time and again.  Would it be a lie to say Jesus is his son since you can’t list God on the upcoming birth certificate?  Does Joseph quickly register before Mary gives birth to avoid all that weirdness?

 * * *

Be Still, Joseph.  I know I AM asking a lot.  But I know you’re the guy to have asked.  Because I know you.

Be Still, Joseph.  You’re not just in a side-car of My will for Mary.  You’re integral.  Remember that always.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I promise to lead you one step at a time.  I AM with you.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  This is to fulfill Scripture.  Matthew 1: 2 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.”

Questions for Reflection: 

1. When God is at the center of your life, how likely are you to wonder “What’s in it for me?” 
2. How is keeping God at the center of your life a key to Being Still? 
3. How do you feel about obligations and duty? 
4. How do you feel when someone else is the star of the show and you’re along for the ride? 
5. In what ways was Joseph integral to the birth narrative of Christ?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

Government. How often do we feel like our lives would be better without it?  Rules, regulations, and checklists.  Demands, division, diversion, and deception.  Ugh.  So much of government seems to be for its convenience, enrichment, and exertion of power.  But it doesn’t really seem to be for our benefit much of the time.  This is nothing new. 

But God can use governments, even without their knowledge or consent, to do His will. 

As we continue our Advent 2017 Devotional Series, Still Christmas, let’s see God doing this very thing.  Luke 2:1 “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.” 

For pregnant Mary and her betrothed Joseph, this couldn’t have come at a less convenient time.  Yeah, let’s make a long journey on foot or pose for a postage stamp with a sunsetty background with pregnant Mary on a donkey ready to give birth any minute.

Time out.

Scripture doesn’t tell us HOW they went, only that their lives were interrupted because Caesar Augustus got a bee in his bonnet and decided to issue a decree for a census.  Apparently, this would be kind of a routine travel tradition since verse 2 says it was the first census, suggesting more than one, maybe a string of them.  Maybe so long as Caesar Augustus was in control, it would be a tight leash and an annual trip like the swallows returning to Capistrano from Argentina. 

Anyway, on the surface, it was a government demand and intrusion, but in God’s timing, this first census was a divine interference. 

Scripture had to be fulfilled and that meant somehow Mary and Joseph couldn’t stay where they were.  And Joseph couldn’t go alone and still have the Messiah born where Scripture says He would be.  Mary needed to be there too. 

So God interferes and uses the government to do it.

 * * * 

Be Still, Mary and Joseph.  The census is an interference to get you to where you need to be.

Be Still.  No man’s interference will ever surprise Me or thwart My plan.  They’re often part of it.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  What Scripture says of My sovereignty is true:  Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.”

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  When you understand this is how I work, it puts a different frame around whatever is going on that disrupts your life.  I AM God and I know all things.  If it serves My will, I’ll let you in on it.  Otherwise, just trust that I know what I AM doing.

Questions for Reflection: 

1. What is often our gut reaction to government interference with our lives? 
2. How do we feel about being inconvenienced? 
3. What areas of your life might take on a different appearance with a God-sovereignty frame around it?  Would it be easier to accept traffic delays, long lines at the stores, relocations, job losses, etc. if you knew that God was still in control? 
4. In what ways is it harder to believe that God cares about such small things in the scope of eternity?  What does it tell you about God that no detail of your life escapes His notice?  

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.

Wisdom is often shown in knowing when to speak and when to be silent.

***  

Zechariah had foolishly asked for proof of God’s blessing and he was forced to be silent while God brought it about.  He’d learned to be silent and learned to Be Still.  Then just as suddenly as he was rendered unable to speak, he is suddenly overflowing with praise for what God had done! 

***

Be Still When You Speak. 

Speak wisely.

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Luke 1:64 “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us– 72 to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.”

It’s highly doubtful that Zechariah had been planning for the 9+ months of silence what to say, as a rehearsed speech, or a sermon with all the right inflection points.  Our Scripture says that the Holy Spirit gave him words, on the spot, to speak as prophecy, beginning with praise.  Zechariah, conditioned to Be Still from months of being tongue-tied, yields to the Holy Spirit’s supplying of words.  

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Be Still, Zechariah.  You can point to Me in your silence or with your words.

Be Still.  When speaking, your edifying words of truth and praise show the greater part of wisdom.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I told you, Zechariah, that you’d be silent until your son was born.  What I spoke came to pass.  It always does.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.   Praise as a response to My goodness is something to do for your benefit, not something I require to be complete.  My servant King David understood this. Psalm 145:10 “All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”

Questions for Reflection: 

1. Read all of Psalm 145.  Why does reminding ourselves of God’s goodness and faithfulness help us? 
2. Does acknowledging God’s perfection—in any way—improve His situation?  How does it improve ours? 
3. In what ways is it instructive that Zechariah’s silence was inaugurated with doubt and unbelief but ends when he would offer praise and acknowledgment of God’s goodness to His people? 

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.