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Daddy on the Road, Mommy on the Run
December 3, 2006
We wish Thee a worshipped Christmas...
Yesterday, to my absolute delight and surprise, a friend gave me the gift of The Glorious Coming by Ann Voskamp. Tomorrow, I will be climbing into the attic to retrieve our smallest Christmas tree and begin the devotions with my sweet babies. Tonight, I snuggled down into my couch and read greedily the Word and the words of the first days' readings.
What a blessing! What shocking revelation!
God's infinite gift -- covered in skin and wriggling in arms and inhaling the very breath of life He'd exhaled to create us -- began at "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
His redemptive plan unfolded fresh as Adam's eyes opened for the first time.
The picture of sacrifice, Isaac on the altar -- scandalous, horrific, cruel; the power of sacrifice, Jesus on the cross -- freedom, redemption, hope, eternity.
And tonight's devotion -- Abram moving out on the authority of a single Voice; taking Sarai his wife, Lot his nephew, and "the souls that they had gotten in Haran...." Pure trust. The evidence of things hoped for. And I love the KJV: "the souls" they got -- their slaves, their "employees." Abram's faith would undoubtedly yield a nation, God said it. But I love that the eternal destinies of each "soul" traveling with him would likewise never be the same. Whether or not they believed Abram, whether or not they thought he was crazy, they were on the move with him -- and I believe that just as Moses came down shining from the mountain, Abram's very countenance must have shown his peace with God and resolve to go.
Ann points out that the Lord is still asking if you and I have the trust to go -- without the directions, without photos of the destination, without human approval or interest.
Am I one of the 11 holding down the boat or am I the crazy fisherman crawling over the side?
Am I the one feeling threatened by a slave girl or am I calling out for The God Who Sees and trusting Him when He tells me to go back home?
LORD, You alone know how much this passage meant to me tonight; thank You for the example You made through Abram's life of what it means to walk in dangerous faith with You. Would You please forgive my shortsightedness? I sometimes think that Christmas is about me worshipping You, only to discover that Christmas is about You. Period.
Oh, Holy One of Israel, I am grateful that with the glorious sacrifice came a powerful invitation to walk with You into No-Eye-Has-Seen-Nor-Ear-Has-Heard territory. Let me never mistake that invitation for anything else than what it is -- You do not need me. You do NOT need me. You want me, You pursue me, You pour out Yourself that I may live with You forever, but it is not because You need me.
May I stand in awe over Your manger, once again, remembering that You didn't have to be there in the first place.
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