Reason #344
Sometimes I just get that overwhelming feeling of love and joy for the Lord. Seriously, I just love Him so much! I love the fact that I can read His word, stories I know well and am familiar with, and He gives me new insight each time. What an amazing God we serve. To be able to delight in the presence of the Most High, to learn from Him, to be loved by Him, it's a really sweet thing.
I know the Christmas story well. I've heard it for 25 years. I know all about the birth of Jesus. I can tell you who was there, how it went down, and even sing you a lot of songs about it. As I prepared for tomorrow's Sunday school lesson, I read about the wisemen and their trip to see Jesus. Now, as with all things Christmas, there is a song about these guys. Everytime I think of them, the "We Three Kings" version sung by the Christmas clay-mation camels pops into my head. If you watched the clay-mations special that used to come on TV, you know what I'm talking about. If not, I'm sorry you missed out on that. Anyway, three kings, magi, wisemen, whatever you want to call them, traveled to see Jesus. Men who were seeking the Christ child. Following a star that would lead them right into the presence of the King of Kings. Bringing the best to Him. Men who were in pursuit of this Savior. Who didn't sit idle or pass up the opportunity to see Him, rather they packed their bags and off the went. Traveling who knows how many miles for who knows how long until the arrived. And the went with a purpose, to worship Him.
But His people didn't notice. The knew He was coming. They had been told again and again that the Savior was on His way. A king would come to resuce them. One who would establish a powerful kingdom. He was coming, this was no secret. And so, on that night He entered into their presence. Right under their noses and they didn't know it. They weren't looking for Him because this wasn't how they anticipated His arrival. They had expectations of a royal king, a powerful and mighty man who would take control and fearlessly lead them. A great individual who would lead with authority, forcing all to submit to his power. This was what they were waiting on, what they were expecting, or what they were looking for. And so they missed it. They missed His grand entrance. They weren't looking for this King, no, they were looking for the king they had created in their minds. Oh, how they had it all wrong. If only they would have paid attention, kept their eyes open and their hearts soft, maybe they wouldn't have missed the miracle of what God was doing in their very presence.
But these wisemen sought Him out. They weren't the "chosen" ones. They weren't the resuced Israelites. These were men who were curious and they were looking. And so they made it a point to find Him, to find this one who had been promised. They searched, they watched, and they looked until they found Him. Traveling from "afar," they made it a mission to take their best to this baby and worship Him. To enter into His presence, offer what they had, and bow down before Him. They didn't miss out. Their eyes were open and their hearts were yearning and because of that, they were given an incredible opportunity to witness the redepmtive power of God at work before their very eyes. But I suppose it was fitting that they were there because, after all, it was for those men that He came.
He came for us, too. But we enter into Christmas with expectations. We worry about decorations, food, parties and gifts and quickly we find ourselves more concerned with Christmas lights instead of Christ, himself. We miss out on the whole purpose, forgetting the reason Christmas is even celebrated. And like His people, we miss out because we aren't looking for Him. We're looking for a chubby man in a red suit being pulled by magic reindeer, and we send our wishes His way hoping that he will somehow meet them. December 26th comes and we're let down because we had it all wrong. Just like His people, just like Israel, we miss it. We missed what God is doing in our very presence, right below our noses. In our homes, in our communities, in our lives, we miss out on what He's doing because we're looking to and asking the wrong man for joy.
So we could learn a thing or two from these wisemen. Because God is doing a big thing in our lives. God is doing remarkable things for us, and we don't want to miss it. We don't want to pass up an opportunity to be in His presence because He is here with us. And so like these wisemen, we must make it a point to search for Him. Take to Him what we have, offer it to Him, and fall at His feet in worship. Because it's in the simple things we find God. We aren't going to find Him in a box under the tree. We're going to find Him in the places we least expect. And so we have to watch and keep our eyes open so that we don't miss out.
God keeps His promises. He promised us a Savior and He sent one. His promises don't always come in the from we expect, and they don't always look like what we anticipated. But God does really remarkable things, and I'm grateful that He lets ordinary people like me witness it. I'm glad He doesn't hide Himself from us but rather welcomes us with open arms. Unlike the wisemen, I don't have much to offer Him. I'm a simple girl who just desires to be in the presence of the King. A girl who doesn't want to miss the opportunity to witness His divine and redemptive power at work. One who is thankful that this King came for me. So I bow at His feet in worship and gratitude, thankful that He keeps His promises. And I'm thankful that when our eyes are opened, our hearts our soft, and we seek to find Him, He'll lead us right into His very presence everytime.
#344 - Because He will lead us into His presence when we seek and look for Him.
"Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wisemen from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” - Matthew 2:1-2
I know the Christmas story well. I've heard it for 25 years. I know all about the birth of Jesus. I can tell you who was there, how it went down, and even sing you a lot of songs about it. As I prepared for tomorrow's Sunday school lesson, I read about the wisemen and their trip to see Jesus. Now, as with all things Christmas, there is a song about these guys. Everytime I think of them, the "We Three Kings" version sung by the Christmas clay-mation camels pops into my head. If you watched the clay-mations special that used to come on TV, you know what I'm talking about. If not, I'm sorry you missed out on that. Anyway, three kings, magi, wisemen, whatever you want to call them, traveled to see Jesus. Men who were seeking the Christ child. Following a star that would lead them right into the presence of the King of Kings. Bringing the best to Him. Men who were in pursuit of this Savior. Who didn't sit idle or pass up the opportunity to see Him, rather they packed their bags and off the went. Traveling who knows how many miles for who knows how long until the arrived. And the went with a purpose, to worship Him.
But His people didn't notice. The knew He was coming. They had been told again and again that the Savior was on His way. A king would come to resuce them. One who would establish a powerful kingdom. He was coming, this was no secret. And so, on that night He entered into their presence. Right under their noses and they didn't know it. They weren't looking for Him because this wasn't how they anticipated His arrival. They had expectations of a royal king, a powerful and mighty man who would take control and fearlessly lead them. A great individual who would lead with authority, forcing all to submit to his power. This was what they were waiting on, what they were expecting, or what they were looking for. And so they missed it. They missed His grand entrance. They weren't looking for this King, no, they were looking for the king they had created in their minds. Oh, how they had it all wrong. If only they would have paid attention, kept their eyes open and their hearts soft, maybe they wouldn't have missed the miracle of what God was doing in their very presence.
But these wisemen sought Him out. They weren't the "chosen" ones. They weren't the resuced Israelites. These were men who were curious and they were looking. And so they made it a point to find Him, to find this one who had been promised. They searched, they watched, and they looked until they found Him. Traveling from "afar," they made it a mission to take their best to this baby and worship Him. To enter into His presence, offer what they had, and bow down before Him. They didn't miss out. Their eyes were open and their hearts were yearning and because of that, they were given an incredible opportunity to witness the redepmtive power of God at work before their very eyes. But I suppose it was fitting that they were there because, after all, it was for those men that He came.
He came for us, too. But we enter into Christmas with expectations. We worry about decorations, food, parties and gifts and quickly we find ourselves more concerned with Christmas lights instead of Christ, himself. We miss out on the whole purpose, forgetting the reason Christmas is even celebrated. And like His people, we miss out because we aren't looking for Him. We're looking for a chubby man in a red suit being pulled by magic reindeer, and we send our wishes His way hoping that he will somehow meet them. December 26th comes and we're let down because we had it all wrong. Just like His people, just like Israel, we miss it. We missed what God is doing in our very presence, right below our noses. In our homes, in our communities, in our lives, we miss out on what He's doing because we're looking to and asking the wrong man for joy.
So we could learn a thing or two from these wisemen. Because God is doing a big thing in our lives. God is doing remarkable things for us, and we don't want to miss it. We don't want to pass up an opportunity to be in His presence because He is here with us. And so like these wisemen, we must make it a point to search for Him. Take to Him what we have, offer it to Him, and fall at His feet in worship. Because it's in the simple things we find God. We aren't going to find Him in a box under the tree. We're going to find Him in the places we least expect. And so we have to watch and keep our eyes open so that we don't miss out.
God keeps His promises. He promised us a Savior and He sent one. His promises don't always come in the from we expect, and they don't always look like what we anticipated. But God does really remarkable things, and I'm grateful that He lets ordinary people like me witness it. I'm glad He doesn't hide Himself from us but rather welcomes us with open arms. Unlike the wisemen, I don't have much to offer Him. I'm a simple girl who just desires to be in the presence of the King. A girl who doesn't want to miss the opportunity to witness His divine and redemptive power at work. One who is thankful that this King came for me. So I bow at His feet in worship and gratitude, thankful that He keeps His promises. And I'm thankful that when our eyes are opened, our hearts our soft, and we seek to find Him, He'll lead us right into His very presence everytime.
#344 - Because He will lead us into His presence when we seek and look for Him.
"Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wisemen from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” - Matthew 2:1-2
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