God Is With Us

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

I only recently paid close attention to the words of this song. They are just as hauntingly beautiful as the melody is. You only have to read through them once to catch the longing of God's people for deliverance. A longing that had built up for thousands of years. And yet, in some ways, a longing that was somewhat dimly understood. They were looking for a physical deliverer, and Jesus is so much, much more.

As I thought of the words of the song one question kept coming to mind: "Do I even appreciate the fulfilled prophecy in my life?" Emmanuel has come! And He has perfectly filled that longing - God is with us. We are ransomed! He has freed us from the devil's tyranny. We are saved from hell. The Day-Spring is here and we do have His joy to disperse the clouds from our lives. He has defeated death! The way to Heaven is wide open to us! He has freed us from the law.

How do I let myself become so used to God's blessing? Why do I allow myself to take His wonderful presence for granted?

Emmanuel - God is with us. Rejoice!



The Mother's Mite

"...And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts in to the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites." {Luke 21:1&2}

This is a beautiful story of honoring Christ to the best of your ability. This dear woman gave God her all, and possibly never received her reward until she worshiped God in Heaven. I imagine the joy she had in throwing her crown at the feet of her Lord was greater than that of those who always had an abundance of material thing to give Him on the earth. 

As I read this story yesterday I suddenly saw it in a different light. Right now I am that widow - in a different way. I have always been blessed materially beyond what she was, but as a mommy, sometimes I only have a mite of time here and a mite of time there to give to Jesus. And so often  I allow myself to throw it away on something besides serving my Lord because it's not what other people can  give. Other people can spend a whole hour or more at Jesus's feet, praising and adoring Him, seeking after Him. When I compare the amount of time that I have on some days to that, my few minutes seem worthless.

But they're not! I believe it was the widow's attitude that was so precious to Jesus. She did not consider her gift worthless to God - She gave it in love and knew that it was accepted in love. I can give my day to God in love in the morning, and He will accept it. I can give the song I sing to Jakki in love to God and it will bless Him. I can pray for God's direction for our family as I wash the dishes and God will hear me. I can ask God to be close to my friends that are hurting while I pick up toys and God will pour out His grace on their heart. I can read a verse, one verse, while I sit down with a cup of coffee and God will use it to speak to me all day. I can take a latte to my husband and God will be glorified because I am fulfilling the role He has ordained for me as a wife.

These are little mites of time, but I do believe they bless God greatly when they are consciously lifted up to glorify Him.

I'm not saying we don't need our half hour or hour with God. But there are some days when that is not possibly as we strive to meet the demands of being a wife, mommy and friend. And of course the people who do have hours of each day to give to the Lord bless Him greatly, and are well beloved in His sight. I do not mean to underestimate the worth of what they have to give to God. But do not allow yourself to consider what God has given you to offer Him during this season of your life as worthless.

And let us give it to Him humbly: "Oh my soul, you have said to the Lord, "You are the Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from you." {Psalm 16:2}