Emmanuel
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look!
God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They
will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:3
Well summer in West Texas has come
in with a bang. It has been over 100 several days in a row but today we are
having a cold front. It is only 98. Every time it gets like this I promise God
that I will not complain about winter the next year. One year I did learn that
we don’t have a lot to complain about. Before we were married I went to visit
my husband in North Carolina. There were these tall green things with branches
which they said were trees,( which were not to be confused with mesquite trees). Then I flew to Ohio to visit my friend. We
were talking a mile a minute all the way back from the airport. We got to her
house and got settled, finally going to sleep very late. The next morning she
woke me up to let me know she was going to work. She told me that if I needed
to go outside for anything to dress really, really warm because it was really,
really cold. I assured her that I would and went back to sleep. When I woke up
I realized I had left something in the car. The sun was gorgeous and reflecting
off the snow. (This was actual snow and not ice like we have here.) I put on
about three layers and went outside. I felt like I had walked into a brick
wall. I quickly got what I needed and went back in. When she came in I told her
about my trip outside. She said “I told you!”
I said, “Yeah, but the sun was shining!” She replied, “I know, Honey but
it doesn’t work up here.” We had many more adventures on that trip that we will
revisit later, but it was a wonderful holiday. The memory sparked Christmas
carols in my mind and before I knew it, I was singing Emmanuel, Our God is With
Us. I thought it was a strange song to
be singing in summer but in my spirit, I heard God say, “I am not only Emmanuel
at Christmas time.
The beautiful verses in Isaiah 7 that we read
at Christmas tell us this. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Sometimes
I know that God is Lord, but don’t feel like he is Father and I don’t feel like
he is near. I have been reading in
Joshua this week and Joshua had some of the same thoughts I have had. He felt
that he was up against a task that was too hard for him. This is what God told
him. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do
not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you
go." Joshua 1:9 Isaiah 41:10 is a wonderful promise to us. So
do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will
strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Jesus gave his disciples a job. He said in Matthew 28:20, “Go into all the
world and preach the gospel, teaching and making disciples of all men. Then he
gave them a promise. He said, “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the
age.
We go through seasons in our
lives. Sometimes it is spring and we see God’s hand in every flower and bird
song in our lives. Sometimes it is a long dry summer when things are hard.
Sometimes the harvest we seek seems to fall into our laps. Sometimes it is
winter and we feel that God has left us and nothing will ever be green and
alive again. In every season, Jesus is Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.”
No matter what you feel, believe today that it is true.
