O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

I love the Christmas season. It is probably my favorite time of year. There are a lot of memories that my brain associates with this holiday season. Among those are how, when I was 15, my church family rallied around our family when my dad had a stroke the day after Thanksgiving. More recently, that same church family rallying around my boys and I as we dealt with some extremely hard times.

For me, a big part of celebrating the Christmas season is the music. I love Christmas music, and if you stop by our house even as early as mid-October, you can often hear the sounds of the season echoing through the halls. (In fact, I've been known to fire it up even in July, just for the fun of it!)

This morning I had some Christmas music playing as I was cooking breakfast, and as I sat down with my Bible and a cup of coffee, the song "O Come, Emmanuel" started playing, and the lyrics took on a different meaning this time.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

For hundreds of years, this was the cry of God's people - "God, fulfill Your promise and come, be with us." Finally, on a starry night in Bethlehem, that promise was fulfilled. The One Who had spoke the very stars into existence stepped down from His glory and took upon Himself the form of His creation.

In our Christmas Candlelight & Carols service, we sang a song talking about how for hundreds of years, Israel had known the names of God: Adonai, Yahweh, El Shaddai. But now, they finally had a face to put with the name: Immanuel - God with us. Jesus, the Messiah.

What got me this morning was the thought that for hundreds, even thousands of years, people prayed for Messiah to come. Untold numbers of people lived and died without seeing that promise come to fruition. For them, God's answer to their prayers was not, "No, I'm not going to send Messiah", but rather, "Not yet - it isn't time.."

One man, Simeon, finally held in his arms the answer to his prayers:

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Luke 2:28-32 

How many times have we cried out to God day after day, for something that we firmly believe will be good for us? It might even be something that to our minds would benefit us spiritually. Every day for nearly a year and a half, I prayed that God would do a supernatural work and heal a marriage that was on the brink. His ultimate answer was not what I was looking for.

But His ways are not our ways. His ways are higher than ours. Something I've learned through the trials is to be thankful that He knows what I need and what is best for me - because most of the time, I don't know what I want. Though His answer might be "no" at this time, in His time, He will make all things right.

Perhaps you are struggling during this Christmas season. Maybe your particular valley is so dark that you can't see the Shepherd. Know that the One Who has promised to never leave you or forsake you is still there, walking beside you. Rejoice - for He will answer in His time.