Read: Micah 5:2-5
Well, we made it.
We got through this year. Think about that accomplishment - to have arrived at this point in one piece. Who would have known what kind of year lay ahead this time last year?
Well actually, God would have known.
He knew what would happen this year and the year before that and before that. He’s very good at knowing things ahead of time – like, hundreds of years beforehand. It’s a matter of history – centuries before the first Christmas, God knew:
- A virgin would give birth to Jesus (Isaiah 7:14)
- Jesus would be David’s descendant (Isaiah 11:1)
- Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
- Jesus would preach in Jerusalem’s temple (Malachi 3:1)
- Jesus would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12)
- Jesus would be crucified (Psalm 22)
That last one is remarkable. Psalm 22 details crucifixion about 700 years before its invention. God knew the good and the bad. Though He didn’t necessarily will any of it, He was able to make something beautiful out of it.
So, if God knew all of that back then, He knows all of this right now. At this precise moment one year ago, God knew exactly what lay ahead for you personally. He was (apparently) ok with you going through it – even though it was (and is) difficult at times.
Soak that in for a moment, because we think we’d be better off handling the present if we could just see what is coming. This is not true. We don’t need to know the future, we just need to trust the one who knows the future.
It’s called abiding.
To abide is to trust. It’s that feeling you had as a kid in the back seat of the car. You didn’t know where you were going, but you knew your parents did, and that was good enough. Over the next twelve days, let’s practice abiding. A short devotional to remind us that God is in control of each and every Christmas.