Silent Night
We are beginning to slide into winter near Philadelphia. Those who live in northwest Pennsylvania have already experienced snow. Mostly cloudy skies overtake sunny days. Trees, which had beautiful colored leaves in October and November, are now barren. Everything can appear dreary during the winter, and everything seems to die.
What saves December, so to speak? The incredible anticipation of Christmas, at least for me!
I struggle in winter; possibly you do too. But Christmas helps December, our first winter month, to pass quickly. Almost too quickly! I enjoy the beautiful Christmas tree lights, sitting by the fireplace, and watching a good movie (have you checked out the Great American Family Channel?) while sipping hot cocoa with whipped cream on top! Plus, I love family and friends and all the connections that may happen.
But what if there was no Christmas? No Jesus’ birth to celebrate because we were still waiting for the Messiah, the promised Savior, to be born? What if there was only silence, and the silence was deafening?
There was a time when this was the reality.
Did you know there was a four-hundred-year gap in history where God seemed silent? Between the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, and Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, four hundred years passed before Jesus was born. Four hundred years of silence. Here is one prophecy of many about the promise of the Messiah.
“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
In our world of texting and IMessage, we expect instant responses to our messages, and if we don’t receive this, we tend to think the worst. Especially if you can see that your message was DELIVERED or READ and there is no response. Silence can be unsettling!
I wonder what our ancestors thought when God seemed silent. Did they lose hope? Would you? That period must have seemed like winter in Pennsylvania, where days are short, and nights are long as we wait for Spring to arrive.
After four hundred years of long winters, everything changed.
The promised Messiah was on the horizon. The period of winter was about to change to Spring.
This time, an angel delivered the news to both Mary and Joseph.
Mary’s encounter is recorded here in Luke 1:26-33:
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “For you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
We read about Joseph’s meet-up with the angel Gabriel in Matthew 1:20-23
“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the Prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
God’s silence did not mean the promise was not for real, but only that the promise was for an appointed time.
This Christmas, enjoy the festivities and consider this thought: SILENCE doesn’t mean God has forgotten you.
Trust that God is working behind the scenes and can be trusted!
When it seems that He is silent when it feels like the ground is dry and barren, and there appears to be no hope for promises to be fulfilled, WAIT. Our timing is not God’s timing.
The Prophet Isaiah spoke these words four hundred years before Christ was born.
Isaiah 53:1 says:
“Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot like a root in dry ground.”
God loves to do the impossible through people, places, and circumstances where HE will get the glory. If the ground seems dry, look for the green shoot. From what I can see, dry ground is not an obstacle to God.
Merry Christmas!
Liz
