Christmas Devotional: 10th December 2020
Travel is a distant memory for many of us, but perhaps all of us can recall a time when we have been moving between places. Seated in plane, or train, car or boat, perhaps you remember that liminal, in-between feeling settling upon you as you found yourself somewhere between the memories of the past and the reality of the future. As the scenery drifted by, you may have been aware that you were physically moving through a lot of change, as buildings and landscape and people flew past, and that you were changing too. You had changed, you were changing, yet the final change, the destination, was still to come.
Isaiah is brimming with God’s promises to us, and reading them can render us with a similarly liminal feeling, aware of our treasured position as a people both saved by and waiting for Jesus Christ.
Throughout Isaiah, and the whole Bible, seeds of light are sown. Each seed, including these beautiful verses, is special because it reveals to us not what, but who, the light is: Emmanuel, Jesus Christ. Here, the Lord promises us His Son, who will faithfully establish justice to a broken world (v.4), and lead His people in the righteousness to which they have been called (v.6). This is God’s servant, in whom His very soul delights (v.1), and this is God’s promise: that we will be made like that delightful servant. Jesus has come, and these promises are eternally yes in Him; Jesus is coming again, and we await the finished work.
Perhaps now more than ever you understand that liminal feeling, as you long for restrictions to be lifted and await the return to ‘normal’ life. Do you feel discouraged by the delays of the world? Do you feel discouraged by the delays of your God too? In these days, our future hope can seem brighter and closer and more distant and unimaginable than ever before.
Our Saviour is gentle; a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench (v.3). Has the liminal, the waiting, left its bruises in your heart? How might the Lord be offering you His healing hand?
Our Lord created the heavens and gave us the breath of life (v.5). How might the Lord be reminding you of His mighty power today?
We live in the knowledge and revelation of Jesus Christ; Isaiah dreamed of it. And as he dreamt, he sung to the Lord a new song, His praise from the end of the earth (v.10). This is a song we are still singing as we await the final end. Has its newness grown old for you? How might the Lord be offering you His joy afresh today? Perhaps it’s time to sing that song again, to sing it though you are discouraged. You can, for Jesus Christ will never be discouraged until the work is done (v.4). These are the things He will do, and He will not forsake them (v.16).