Missed that one.
"He had the solution before you had the problem
He sees the best in you when you feel at your worst
So in the questioning, don't ever doubt His love for you
'Cause it's only in His love that you'll find a breakthrough, oh"
Danny Gokey, Haven't Seen It Yet
I have been listening to the Bible more so than reading it lately. It has allowed me to "do" whatever I am doing and feed my mind with something a little bit better than Taylor Swift lyrics although there's still time for that too. I am at the end of John and as I listened to the story of The Passion (which I have heard and read a ton of times)...the emphasis the New Living Translation placed on the fact Jesus' accusers were in a rush struck me, it states,
"His accusers didn't go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn't be allowed to celebrate the Passover"(John 18:28).
I hit pause as soon as I heard that and thought..wait a second - the Passover is what the Israelites celebrate to remember God's sparing of their first born son. God was protecting them from the wrath he played out on the Egyptians. The sign they placed above their door was the blood of a sacrificial lamb...
The one true (and final) lamb for all of our sins had come, it was Jesus - the one they were persecuting. He is Emmanuel and yet, they missed it. They were too busy trying to be right or control the situation. They missed the one they had been waiting for.
I don't know about you - but the Holiday season can bring with it "anticipated moments" - I could list some examples but you already know what they are. Yet, the Peace and Joy can be found in the fact that the One we have been waiting for, the One who fills all those "missing gaps" we have been looking to others or things to fill - He is HERE. Are you willing to receive? Or would you rather keep looking?
Father, I don't want to miss you standing right in front of me. Open my eyes and my ears - calm my spirit and allow me to remember you are everywhere, you see all, you know all and it is finished. As we celebrate your birth help us to see and name the things around us that are gifts from you. Then help us see and name the gifts in us that you have given us to steward well. You are with us, you always have been.
He's in the waiting - be still.
Amen, Ash.
