PEACE
Monday, December 11
READ: Luke 2:8
I love Christmas music! I have to resist the urge to fire up my Christmas playlists round about mid-October every year. Obviously, the best part of Christmas music is the message of those songs that meditate on Christ’s birth and its impact on us all. Beyond that, Christmas music is just plain fun. (Well, most of it. There are a few songs that even I can’t stand.)
With the current popularity of contemporary Christian music, songs I only heard in church with a hymnal and an organ as a child are now available as pop, hip hop, R&B, and country tunes. Go Tell It on the Mountain comes to mind. I’ve heard this song done so many ways, but it’s done in one style more frequently than any other. Any guesses?
Country. With upright basses, banjos, and even mouth harps…so, really, bluegrass. I’m not typically a country music guy, but I like this take for this song. Maybe it’s because the shepherds lived out in the fields with their sheep, so it makes me think of the rolling hills of the middle-south or even just pastures I drive past on summer road trips. Either way, my mind goes to places that are closely connected with country music.
It's significant that shepherds usher in this chapter of the Christmas story. The shepherds didn’t just work out in the fields like some kind of first century farm hands, driving in to work in the daylight, then driving back to their houses in the city. They lived in the fields, working as small, tight-knit communities, tending their flocks 24-7, taking turns guarding against wolves and other threats.
Their livelihood led to them living, dressing, and probably smelling differently. People haven’t changed all that much. Shepherds were the outcasts. They were looked down on, made fun of, considered to be less intelligent, less dignified, less worthy. You know how people put on a thick southern accent to jokingly sound dumb? The shepherds were likely the butt of the same kinds of jokes. Disregarded, disrespected, dismissed.
We’re all waiting for something. Maybe you feel disregarded, disrespected, or dismissed and are waiting for that to end. Lean into the shepherds’ story this week.
PRAY: Ask God to help you connect with the shepherds. Ask Him to show you how you relate with them. Then, ask Him to speak to you through their story this week.
Tuesday, December 12
READ: Luke 2:9-12
I remember the night I was forced into a confrontation with my greatest fear. I was in fourth grade and went to Cub Scout camp for the weekend. It was my first time away from home overnight. I was at a place I had never been, and my parents sent me with friends.
I had to walk from my cabin to the car to get my sleeping bag and suitcase well after dark. I made my way from the cabin to the parking lot without incident because the parking lot was lit. The walk back to the cabin was a different story. I quickly found myself stumbling along a path I couldn’t see, getting hit in the face with the tips of pine branches, wondering if I’d ever find my way to the cabin.
Tears started flowing, panic set in. I was sure I’d be sleeping outside. I was talking to myself, out loud, saying I just wanted to go home. I was lost. I was scared. I was alone. Then I saw it. A dim light shining through a small window. It was a cabin! Might not be mine, but it was someone’s. If I could get there, maybe I could find mine.
As I got closer, I recognized voices. It was my cabin! Hallelujah, I was saved!
John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, announced the coming of Jesus. “Those living in darkness have seen a great light” (Matthew 4:16). He’s not talking about 60 soft-glowing watts in a scouting cabin. He’s talking about a world lost in the darkness of sin. To that world, the greatest light ever has come – and it came to shepherds.
Imagine, you’re standing in the field, listening to the sheep quietly move about, looking at the uninterrupted darkness of the night sky and BAM! The glory of the Lord shines around you!
What is the glory of the Lord? A word study doesn’t really open that one up, but when we look that original word is used elsewhere, we can get an idea. It is used to describe how Jesus will come from heaven – in his glory and in his Father’s glory (Matthew 16:27, 19:28, 24:30; Mark 8:38, 13:26; Luke 9:26, 21:27).
Glory seems to be the best available word to describe the wonder of God in heaven. It’s the presence and power of God radiating in a way that is otherwise indescribable. Heaven itself breaking into darkness!
Are you walking in darkness? Are you waiting for light to break through? Maybe your waiting for God to show up in a way that totally disrupts the dark night of your soul.
PRAY: Talk to God about the darkest parts of your life. Ask for His glory to surround you. When it does, it will illuminate His goodness, His faithfulness, and His mercy. You will see that you don’t have to wait. Jesus is coming!
Wednesday, December 13
READ: Luke 2:13-14
A 400-year silence quietly ended with Zechariah, but it was shattered with the shepherds. It began with an angel showing up and the glory of the Lord surrounding them, but it didn’t stop there. A company of the heavenly host appeared, praising God with a proclamation that would usher in a new kind of kingdom.
It was common in that day and region for a royal birth announcement to be accompanied by a choir. It was quite the to-do. Kind of like a royal wedding today. Lots of a certain kind of people get invited. Royalty, celebrities, politicians, the wealthy, the influential…not the outcast, the marginalized, the poor, the dismissed. Can you imagine if a random farmer from southwest Michigan was invited to the recent royal wedding? It wouldn’t make any sense.
That’s kind of what’s happening here, but it’s even more significant than that. The shepherds weren’t among the who’s who as though they got a secret pass to an elite party. They were the only people there. The God of the universe chose to send his messenger and a choir of angels to surround lowly shepherds with His glory and say, “peace to those on whom His favor rests.”
Here's a simple question we don’t pause to consider very often: Would God make this specific announcement in this spectacular fashion to an audience that’s not included in it? Of course not! That means the angels are saying, “The King of Glory is born today. You don’t have to wait for peace anymore because he, the Messiah, the Lord, is coming in like a shepherd: a way others will disregard, disrespect, and dismiss.
The shepherds didn’t need to long for peace through the acceptance of their peers. They didn’t have to experience any more restlessness wishing they could just be accepted. All of a sudden, none of that matters because they are highly favored in the sight of God!
Culture tells us waiting is passive, saying you’ve got to take control of your life. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord says our strength is renewed as we wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31). You can’t force peace. It’s a gift that comes through patient waiting. So, stop striving and start abiding.
PRAY: Are you done feeling like the least or the last? Are you standing on the outside looking in, or stuck at the bottom looking up? Put it in God’s hands and pray that He will equip you in the waiting. Peace comes as you keep in step with the Lord.
Thursday, December 14
READ: Luke 2:15
New Year’s resolutions don’t stick. On average somewhere around 10% of people keep their New Year’s resolutions. Knowing this, one year our family decided to try something we had seen succeed with friends of ours. Instead of making commitments to eat less and floss more, or get in shape or out of debt, we chose a word to focus on for the whole year. We committed to praying about and pursuing that word as the Lord led. My word? Intentionality. Lack of intentionality was the root of my failed resolutions in the past.
Do you know what happened? Put a dress and lipstick on a pig and tried to call it a lady. My word was no more than a resolution masquerading as something deeper…and it failed. I did think of it more often, but having the word on my mind didn’t provide the intrinsic motivation needed to succeed.
Only 38% of adults even make New Year resolutions to begin with. It’s not like any of us is perfect. We all have things we could commit to that would improve our lives or the lives of those around us. People don’t make the resolution to start with because they know they don’t want to invite the accountability necessary to ensure something actually happens, they don’t want to admit change is needed, or they simply aren’t motivated to do the work.
The shepherds were motivated. They did want to do the work. They knew they couldn’t keep this to themselves. They were so filled with joy and so excited about their newfound peace that they had to bring the message to anyone and everyone they could (more on that tomorrow).
How many times have you been impacted by a sermon, had a powerful moment in prayer, or been moved though worship music…and done nothing with it? How many times have those opportunities just passed you by? This isn’t a guilt thing, but it is a gut check thing.
Why don’t we respond like the shepherds? What are we waiting for?
PRAY: Let this scripture be your prayer today. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Friday, December 15
READ: Luke 2:16-20
I read a book in seminary called “They Can’t Quit Praisin’.” It was a study of African American-style preaching and how most sermons in that tradition erupt in praise. Our professor had us read the book with the contention that we don’t praise enough in our own preaching. He’s not wrong. I would extend that contention to more than preachers. We, as Christians, do not spend enough of our energy praising. It’s easy for us to default to the negative, to be skeptical, or, like Zechariah, to be realists.
Not the shepherds.
They heard it. They believed it. They saw it. They celebrated!
Let’s adopt that as a lifestyle. Let’s hear God’s word through reading, prayer, and worship. Let’s believe what He says. Let’s ask God to reveal it in our daily lives. Then, let’s celebrate all He’s doing!
What are you waiting for? Whatever it is, you will find its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. In the meantime, ask God to tell you what to do as you wait. We have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you talk. Wait in silent expectation. When he speaks, don’t just listen. Hear Him. Believe Him. Watch Him work. Then, never quit praisin’!
PRAY: Ask God to show you how to wait well. Ask Him to show you how waiting is active. Ask Him to fill your heart in such a way that when your waiting is fulfilled, you won’t be able to keep yourself from telling people and praising the Lord!