The Eve of Joy
Christmas Eve is a magical kind of anticipation. Eyes fixed on a dark winter sky, breath held in a holy hush, hearts awaiting the joy of a promise fulfilled in a most unexpected way.
Eves are like that. Anticipation, excitement, and wonder.
It's the night before a big game, a wedding, graduation, a new job, a move across country, and minds are racing, imaginations are running wild, a few butterflies flutter in your stomach and sleep might as well be the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Christmas Eve is the anticipation of light coming into a dark world. Long lay the world in sin and error pining...
Sometimes eves are more than excitement and wonder. Some eves mark the end of a long night, a desperate anticipation of the dawn, knowing its light and warmth are moments away. Hope for those in despair, healing for the suffering, rest for the weary, and relief for the struggling.
Are you ready for an eve? Are you walking through a dark night, desperate for a glimmer of light, ready for hope to rise and the warmth of relief to wash over you?
Hang on, because at just the right time, the light of a new day will shine on your face. Tonight may not be the eve of the breakthrough or the answer to your prayer. That job interview may not happen tomorrow and Prince charming may not knock on your door. You may still be fighting the same battle as yesterday, but hope has already arrived.
Christmas Eve is a reminder that we once were desperately waiting for a Savior, a Redeemer, the hope of Heaven. Now we sing "Joy to the World" because he came and fulfilled a promise, rescuing us from darkness.
He is our rest, our hope, our healing, and our relief even in the midst of our dark season, even as we wait for our eve. I imagine Mary as she carried Jesus for nine months must have experienced serious ridicule and judgement- unmarried in that culture, yet pregnant. I'm thinking she probably lost friends and even family as she awaited his birth.
So while Mary waited and as she remained faithful through this season God asked her to walk through, her faith must have grown. She was visited by an angel who told her the baby was from God, but she was still human. And she lived in a very human community that did not see the angel. Her relationship with God grew stronger as she learned to trust him to fulfill his promises to her.
Whatever it is that needs to end in your life, whatever healing or blessing, or change needs to come - it's all in his perfect timing.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
God sent Jesus into this world and then to the cross at just the right time. Your eve will come as he wills it, but he is here in the midst as your hope now. What is it he has for you as you wait? He doesn't waste anything. The pain, the struggle, the waiting. He uses it all.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
All things. He works them all together for our good. Even the dark days and the struggles, the loneliness and the despair. Your eve is coming. Our eve is coming. And until it does, we walk in the presence of our Savior who came into this world to redeem us.
Joy to the world! The Lord has come!