ADVENT MEDITATIONS - Part 2

DEC. 3 - VISITATION (Посещение)
Today's meditation was about the fulfillment of a hope. Jesus' birth had been prophesied hundreds of years earlier and it was an event that everyone was eagerly anticipating, but it was not only different than what they had expected - it was more.

I chose John 1:14-18 -- "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and he cried out, saying, "This is the One I spoke about when I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, because He was before me.'" From Him we have all received one grace after another. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and who is in close relationship with the Father, has made Him known."

I couldn't just choose one or two verses, because they didn't give the complete picture. Verse 14 talks about God coming to "visit" us in the person of Jesus Christ, but verses 15 to 18 explain who He is and what He came to do. And so I ask myself, as I meditate on Christ this season, what do I anticipate Him doing in my life? How do I see Him? And how do I live out the realization that He indeed dwells with me and shows me who God is?

DEC. 4 - GREATNESS (Величие)
Today's meditation contemplated God's greatness in light of how insignificant we often feel. What we are ultimately celebrating at Christmas is the advent of God's redemption plan - our Great Creator God making Himself like His creation in order to reconcile them to Himself. And God chooses to use the lowly and unexpected to accomplish His plan so that His greatness is magnified.

I chose Isaiah 57:15 -- For thus says the high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite."  And also Micah 5:2, 4 -- "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times." He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

God often chooses to reveal Himself through weakness and lowliness so that we can better understand how great and awesome He is -- the focus is always Him, and never us. But we shouldn't feel insignificant either, because the fact that He chooses to use us is a demonstration of His great love for us.

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

Because I don't know much about science or astronomy, the things that Louie Giglio shared about the "known universe" just stunned me...sometimes it's really good to pause and think about the vastness and awesomeness of creation because it really puts into perspective just how much greater God is than anything we could ever know!

To think that the same God who made billions of galaxies with billions of stars in each of them and that "He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name" (Isaiah 40:26) is intimately acquainted with me -- Psalm 139 says that He "is familiar with all my ways" -- is astounding!!

In light of this, when God calls us or asks us to do something, we should be able to respond in obedience and complete trust, because He is the God who spoke everything into being and sustains it by His Word, who also came to earth as a tiny human baby to live among us and make it possible - through His death and resurrection - for us to one day live in perfect harmony with Him.

To us, who see only "dimly, as in a mirror," (2 Corinthians 13) the challenges we face daily are sometimes huge and insurmountable. But we "live by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7) and so in those times we need to remind ourselves of just how great a God we serve!

This is a timely reminder for all of us, and it is profound to me at this time, as I am feeling awed by how quickly God has brought everything together for me to go to Ukraine and yet I am acutely aware of how daunting some of the tasks ahead of me are (learning Russian, especially). I NEED to remember that the God who made not only the universe but every little thing about me, the same God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead and won the victory over sin and death, is the same God who called me to this ministry and HE will equip me for every task!

"How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God;

and all will see how great, how great is our God!"