Unexpected Saviour

Today I caught my 2 year old holding the Baby Jesus from one of our Nativity play sets and telling Him sternly: "You have been naughty. You are on the Naughty List! So there!" Clearly we need to spend a little more time on the Christmas narrative, ha!

I love the story of Jesus' birth - the way each prophesy is miraculously fulfilled, the simple characters who find themselves cast in starring roles, the contrast of angel choirs and and a heavenly star with a rustic manger in meager surroundings. I have been pregnant over 4 different Christmases, and each time I find myself wondering at the thoughts and prayers of Mary, the girl chosen to give birth to the Son of God in the most amazing of circumstances. 

But the part of the story that fascinates me the most is the part before Luke 2. Before the manger, before the heavenly hosts, before the girl and her fiancee and the Angel deployed from Heaven with the message of a coming Savior. The part that fascinates me is the space between the last Words spoken in the Old Testament and the first Words spoken in the New. For 400 years, God's people wait in the silence, holding on to the Promise of a Savior. Their waiting could not have been easy. By the time the Savior is born, they are oppressed and discouraged. Forced to submit to Roman rule, they are subject to the whims of dictators that do not honor their faith or fear their God. I imagine in The Waiting, they anchored their hope in the Promised Messiah. The words of Isaiah 9:6-7 must have been whispered in dark moments, giving them strength to hold on...

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

While I sing these words in carols or hear them read during Christmas services, I don't cling to them in the way the Israelites surely did. Far removed from an oppressive government with the power to murder all firstborn sons on a whim, I'm not desperate for a King to reign on David's Throne. But when I remember God's People in the waiting, the oppression, the longing for a Savior, I see the Christmas Story differently. Sometimes we shake our head at the silliness of God's People, refusing to accept their own Promised Messiah. But He simply wasn't the Savior they expected. He wasn't the fulfillment of the Promise they were looking for. And before I judge them too harshly, I have to admit that I, too, often reject God's Promises because they don't look the way I expect them to. I politely decline God's Saving because I think I know how and when He's supposed to save. I take God's Own Words and interpret them through the lens of my wants and needs and then use them against Him.  "But you promised... " and where the Israelites claimed promises of deliverance and overthrown governments, I claim promises of healing and a life full of blessings without trials.

I've been thinking about this a lot this Christmas season, as I've prayed for Isabel's healing. It's been over 9 months since she woke up unable to walk. One

night she was healthy and active and happy. The next morning we were rushing her to the hospital because she was screaming in pain. Over the past 9 months they poked and prodded and tested and still no answers as to why she continues to be in pain. She handles it well, but she can't run or straighten her knee, and she walks with a painful limp. All of the time. We finally gave in a couple of weeks ago and let her start using crutches for part of the day, in hopes that the rest of the day she could walk better. Ice packs and prescription pain meds and compression wraps get her through each day. I pray for her constantly - I pray for answers and healing. I turn to Scriptures that lead us to "pray for each other so that you may be healed" (James 5:16) or that promise that "By His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). I pray to a God that I know does and can heal. And when He doesn't fulfill His promises as I interpret them, I get frustrated. 

The passage that I have found myself coming back to (and by coming back to, I mean struck in the face by) is James 1:2-4

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (MSG)

Could it be that the healing I pray for, is really a desire to get out of something prematurely? As I think back over the tests and challenges we've faced in recent years - years of waiting for a baby, followed by a miscarriage, followed by a difficult pregnancy, followed by losing Audrey, followed by... - how many times did I pray for my answer to prayer without considering that the waiting and the loss was there for a purpose? Looking back, I don't understand all of the intricate pieces of my unfolding story, but I know that it has been marked by God's Presence and as promised, He has worked all things for good. 

During this season of Advent, we are reminded that we have much in common with the Israelites awaiting their Messiah. They were expecting a Savior, and in their expectation they focused on a Savior that would deliver them from their physical difficulties. The trials they faced on earth had burdened them so that they focused on the needs surrounding them instead of the Greater Need within them. As we await our Savior's return, it's easy to do the same. Our world today can be scary and hopeless, whether we face illness or fear senseless violence - the needs surrounding us can shift our focus from the Greater Need within us. We pray for pain to be alleviated instead of patience to be developed; we pray for protection from disaster instead of faith in all circumstances; we pray for peace and comfort in physical form without considering God has already given it in Spiritual form. And while it's good to pray for God to intervene in our circumstances, it's dangerous to do so with the expectation that we know how He should answer. Or worse, that we overlook His Saving because we thought it would look differently altogether. 

The beauty of the Christmas Story is in Immanuel - God With Us. That is the Promise that never waivers. Through test and trial, in the midst of pain and violence, as we face loss and struggle against despair, we have God With Us. As I ponder the heroes of the Christmas Story, I am convicted by their simple faith that God's Promise could be fulfilled in a weak and helpless baby. When the shepherds traveled to kneel in worship at a manger, they placed their expectations aside and found their Savior. As Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus as refugees to Egypt, they did not reject the Messiah just because He didn't rescue them from danger. They placed their faith in God With Us, and trusted in His plan to save. The beauty of the Christmas Story is that God is Always With Us. And Christmas is a good time for us to remember that God With Us is more than enough.

Hebrews 6:18-20
"We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God..."