Advent Devotional - Day 11

Wednesday, December 9
Luke 2:9-15

When I was a child, I read the Christmas story out of my Precious Moments™ Bible, and it was beautifully illustrated with those childlike figures portraying an idyllic nativity scene with plenty of adorable baby animals. I imagined a quiet, peaceful, and joyful scene as beautiful angels delivered the good news of the Savior’s birth to a sleepy world below.

Of course, as a child I didn’t think much about the world Jesus was born into. I assumed it was much like my own -- some bad things happened, but it was mostly good, and Jesus came to make it better. But as I grew up and learned more about the world that Jesus was born into, I realized that it was not such a sleepy world. Much like our own world today, there was brokenness and pain. War and conflict. Death and darkness. I realized that Jesus didn’t come to make things better, he came to save it.

To be honest, it’s hard to imagine the relief that God’s people must have felt when Jesus was born and the prophesy was fulfilled. The Christmas story seems so inevitable to us over 2000 years later. But, I have to remind myself that the people had spent generations praying, hoping, and waiting for their Savior. Talk about patience!

As I read the Christmas story this year, it’s a little easier to imagine their waiting. 2020 has been a hard year of waiting. Waiting for test results. Waiting for businesses to reopen. Waiting for schools to go back in person. Waiting for a vaccine.

But thank God we don’t have to wait for our Savior. He already came, He’s already with us, and He brought us peace. Not the kind of peace depicted by my illustrated Bible with its childlike depictions of shepherds and wisemen, but the kind of peace that heals the brokenhearted, brings together a divided people, and shines love into every corner of the world.

Reflection by Amy Sanders