Advent(Dec. 19): Watch and Wait

I will take my stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what He will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;    he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkak 2:1, 3:17-19

Habakkuk saw how his people were turning against God. He pleaded to God to do something...

“As a watchman takes the proper place, especially in time of danger and distress, he was determined to wait patiently for an answer, and to continue to constantly attend to every motion and dictate of the Spirit of God, and take particular notice of what should be suggested to him: that he may receive it, The prophet retired from the world, and gave himself up to meditation and prayer – watching and waiting." (source)

God revealed to Habakkuk that the Babylonians, the epitome of everything Habakkuk (and God for that matter) detested, would become God's instrument of judgment on Judah. How could this be?

 Habakkuk did not understand. He could not explain it. For a time, evil would win over righteousness and bad things would happen to good people. God's hand would not move. His face would not be seen. Yet throughout this time of punishment, God reminded Habakkuk of correct living: 

"The righteous will live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4). 

Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.”~Simone Weil

"Don’t the best things in life necessitate long waiting? Sometimes to find that which we seek, we must simply still… and wait. 

What if I laid down efforts and expectations, perfectionism and performance — and simply waited with arms and heart and eyes wide open?

Waiting is just a gift of time in disguise — a time to pray wrapped up in a ribbon of patience — because is the Lord ever late? Through the quiet rain of tears of water-buried prayers that are waiting for change - waiting for better things. Waiting — no, yearning— for the return of the King and all the perfection we weep for."

Waiting requires us to trust God, just as Habakkuk trusted God...when he didn't understand.  A closer look at the verses in the book of Habakkuk reveals some concepts that help us to trust God more.

1. Habakkuk commits to praising God regardless of external circumstances. In spite of many hardships, the prophet says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
2. Habakkuk praises God specifically for salvation.“I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” God not only could save; God is salvation. 
3. Habakkuk recognizes the Lord as His strength. 

Like Habakkuk, we can choose to praise God even in the face of desolation. Like Habakkuk, we can praise God for the salvation He provides in Jesus Christ.  And, by seeing God as our source of strength, we, like Habakkuk, can trust God’s promises.(source)

"Instead of chafing, we accept that waiting is a strand in the DNA of the Body of Christ. For this waiting on God is the very real work of the people of God in a world chomping to forge ahead. The promises wait in the distance where the pain waits. They wait together in the space where God is.

Until, in the fullness of time, His time, God’s good will emerges, unfolds.

And now, at Christmastime - "Waiting - all the world on the edge of its seat, dangling with bated breath…craning for the first glimpse of God on history’s stage? Waiting for Christ the Babe that comes on Christmas just as Christ the Savior comes on the Cross — seeking only our embrace.

Christmas can only come like Christ came: in the resting wait of gestation. Like a mother longing for the holding of the Child."

How can I slow today… slow in the midst of the holiday hustle… and simply do what Christmas is all about — finding more of Christ? See and behold the love of Jesus everywhere, and you are held.

the cross in christmas from tammi dryden on Vimeo.

Quick, go up to the top of the watchtower - and count all the GIFTS! And in the stillness, and in the wait  — our hearts leap! Joy! His coming! Love comes down.(source)

Soon, SOON, we will see the unwrapping of the greatest Gift of ALL!!!

Lord God, cause us to do our work, hard work: prayerfully waiting on You. And we trust You to do Your work: to make all things new. We live in wait: Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come.(source)

Come back again, as I share Day 20 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 18): A Bridge to the King

 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

Esther 4:10-16

Mordecai informed Esther of what Haman had succeeded in accomplishing and even gave her a copy of the royal decree. And he said to her, “Esther, you have to go to the king and plead for the lives of your people.” 

"Esther had looked into the eyes of God's people outside the palace gate."
She knew she was the only one who could go to the king and help save them. But, she also knew that by going to see him, he may decide to have her killed. 

Mordecai calls for courage and warned his royal cousin. "Look, you’re dead if you do; you’re dead if you don’t. They’re going to find out you’re Jewish and you’re going to be dead if you don’t do anything. Don’t think you’re going to escape."(source)

Mordecai declares to Esther: “You have come to this position...for such a time as this.”(Esther 4:14)

She had to choose to either ignore her calling or accept her calling and be brave.

"Esther had decided - yes! She would be a bridge from God's children to the king."


"Just like brave Queen Esther, Jesus —a swaddled, red faced baby in a cold, dark barn—made Himself a bridge back to the King - for such a time as this. 

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.(1 Tim. 2:5)

 

"It comes like a whisper from those outside the gate: 

Use the life you've been given to give others life. You’ve got gifts that weren’t given to line your life with; they were given to be a lifeline to others- or lose your life. It comes like an echo from God: if your gifts don’t give relief, you don’t get real life."(source)

"When love for others makes your heart beautiful, it makes your hands brave."

Lord, You come—for me and my time—and You perished—for us all. Could there be a greater gift?(source)

Come back again, as I share Day 19 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 17): A True Fairy Tale

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

    are only a small village among all the people of Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel,

    whose origins are in the distant past,

    will come from you on my behalf.

The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies

    until the woman in labor gives birth.

Then at last his fellow countrymen

    will return from exile to their own land.

And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,

    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

Then his people will live there undisturbed,

    for he will be highly honored around the world.

    And he will be the source of peace.

When the Assyrians invade our land

    and break through our defenses,

we will appoint seven rulers to watch over us,

    eight princes to lead us.

Micah 5:2-5

"God gathered His children and told them what would happen even before it happened."

This is a passage of immense significance. Bethlehem - called Ephratah - its meaning (‘fruitful’) suggests that it originally belonged to the valley which leads up to Bethlehem, richly adorned with vines and olive trees -  has been selected as the birthplace of the Messianic Deliverer.  This passage continues a deep-rooted biblical theme. Bethlehem is one of the "little clans."  The village is a backwater, and the one who comes from it cannot be expected to amount to much.  It is a judgement both on the town and on those who live there. And yet, in the case of Bethlehem and those who come from her, the old biblical pattern holds true: the insignificant are exalted. 

The tables are turned, and the most unlikely of people are instruments of God's salvation. From this insignificant little village, a young shepherd boy grows up to become the most beloved king in Israel's history. And a descendant of that king fulfills God's long-awaited promises of deliverance, not just for Israel, but for the whole world. (source)

"Story, after story, as you stacked up one year after another until you had a teetering tower of one thousand long years, the Son-King, Jesus, slipped into the Kingdom. He was born in a barn in the "nobody-would-be-expecting" little Bethlehem."

"No - Jesus did not grow up in a palace - or even have a pillow to lay His head on."

It is not the way of the world, this exaltation of the lowliest. But it is the way God works, over and over and over again. An insignificant village.
 And the one who comes from that little village and that young girl becomes the one Micah proclaims as "the One of peace" (5:5)  (source)

O little town of Bethlehem - is the birth town of He who came…and He has changed everything - especially us...

Through it, the Hopes and Fears of all my years are held in Thee, Lord, … always."(source)

"When we love in little ways, the big things unexpectedly begin to happen. Through unexpected people, the story is unfolding and unwrapping all around you and in you, the light overtaking the dark."

"It's coming - the Kingdom's coming in little and small and unexpected ways!"

Come back again, as I share Day 18 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 16): Turning Around

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 

“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.

Jonah 1:1-3,17; 2:10, 3:1-3

Jonah was chosen to be God's servant, in bringing God's message of salvation both to his nation of Israel and  to Nineveh.

When God called him to go to Nineveh, the enemy of his beloved Israel, it was too much. It appears Jonah's fear of the Ninevites added to his reluctance to accept God's call to go to that Gentile and pagan city. Jonah's lack of faith in God's ability to protect him is very clear. So Jonah left his home, family, friends and most of all, his ministry and took off for parts unknown.

Jonah, probably knew deep in his heart that he could not run from God and that obedience to God is always the best course,  but the sin of rebellion makes one irrational. One might suppose Jonah thought that God might just over look his rebellion. He was to shortly learn the hard way that God can not be ignored and he can not be avoided.

Those who try to run from God will always find their efforts to be in vain. Many spend a lifetime, running to all parts of the world, but as Jonah, they will find it in time to be a futile effort.

Still God pursued Him, not willing for him to be a castaway. God was chastening His child that he might be brought to repentance and back to a place of fellowship and service.

Finally, Jonah submits himself humbly to God, seeing the utter futility of his rebellion.

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and you heard my voice.
 For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
    from your sight;
yet I shall again look
    upon your holy temple.’
 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
    the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
     at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
    O Lord my God.
 When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.

Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their hope of steadfast love.

But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

(Jonah 2:1-9)

The prayer of Jonah reads like one of the Psalms. It is a poetic prayer of thanksgiving to God for deliverance. It records how Jonah in his time of distress immediately turned back to God. He was God's prophet, and he knew God personally. (source)

"Sometimes it's only when you see that you have very little in your hands that you can take hold of God's very big hands. Could there ever be a bigger, better gift than getting more of God?

A beautiful song and prayer!!! 

I've heard/sang it many times in my youth at church. The words seemed so appropriate for this post.

You always get the greatest gift when you turn around and go the right way, right toward the smiling ways of God."

Our God is, as Jonah ironically laments, “…a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love…” (Jonah 4:2) And He will go to stunning lengths to draw people to himself: like taking on flesh, being as born as a helpless baby in smelly cattle pen, hanging on a bark-covered cross by nails pierced through flesh, descending three days into the very pit of hell, to buy back people as wicked as any Ninevehite–just like me. Yes—he is a God abounding in love—mind-boggling, staggering love.(source)

God seeks to restore fellowship to all His children that stray, and all we must do is simply and honestly repent of the sin, confess it as sin to God and He promises to forgive and help us keep from continuing in that sin. ( I John 1:9).

Come back again, as I share Day 17 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up