Life Talk Devotion 12/25/2023
One of my favorite Christmas carols is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. Besides the fact that I’m a sucker for Christmas songs in a minor key, I love the fact that this song looks forward toward the coming Savior, rather than backward at the Savior who has already come. It recognizes the people’s need, their growing despair, and their utter dependence on God to save them when they cannot save themselves.
Although the words were written a few hundred years ago, they draw upon the groaning, the growing desperation heard in the Prophets and Psalms through many long years, looking forward toward the coming of Messiah. Psalm 80 captures this sentiment:
O Lord God of hosts, How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
And You have made them to drink tears in large measure. You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves. O God of hosts, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. Psalm 80:4-7
When they were in bondage in Egypt, the people longed for a Savior. When they had been defeated by their enemies and their sins over and over again during the time of the Judges, they longed for a Savior. When they had been banished to Babylon, the people longed for a Savior. And he finally came as a baby born in a manger who brought good news of great joy to all the people.
But not all received Him, and so today, people still long for a Savior – those in bondage to addiction, those beaten down by their sins time and time again, those separated from family and friends in loneliness that aches even more during the holidays. And yet, the answer is still the same for all of them, and all of us – Jesus, the fulfillment of every longing heart and every searching soul.
So today, if you’re the one still longing and searching, friend, come to Jesus. He longs to embrace you and to take you in as His child. And if you’ve already been changed by Jesus, share the good news you’ve found to be true like the shepherds that first Christmas night. May God draw each one of us close to our Savior this Christmas.
By Contributing Author: Tim Piette
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