Needs

View of Bethlehem at night. Oil on canvas by Josef Langl (1843-1920)

Good morning, beloved,

I think some mornings there is just peace at the thought of God reigning forever and ever. When I contemplate the situations and families needs that surround me, I need that reminder. I need to remember God’s faithfulness and His presence falls fresh and true in these situations.  Instead I find myself giving in to: I grieve, I wonder, I worry.  Does that ever help? Umm…no. That little baby born in a manger, He is our hope. Prayers and action can do more than we will ever, ever know. We crave the beautiful. We long for heaven without even realizing it. We crave all to be set right. God allows me to see a need. What do I do? I have an opportunity. Not to offer excuses or push the need to another, but do something.

I think of the beautiful tradition in the Mexican culture:

Las Posadas: The head of the procession will have a candle inside a paper lampshade. At each house, the resident responds by singing a song and Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter. Once the “innkeepers” let them in, the group of guests come into the home and kneel around the Nativity scene to pray (typically, the Rosary). Latin American countries have continued to celebrate this holiday to this day, with very few changes to the tradition. In some places, the final location may be a church instead of a home.

Individuals may actually play the various parts of Mary (María) and Joseph with the expectant mother riding a real donkey (burro), with attendants such as angels and shepherds acquired along the way, or the pilgrims may carry images of the holy personages instead. Children may carry poinsettias.^[6] The procession will be followed by musicians, with the entire procession singing posadas such as pedir posada.^[4] At the end of each night’s journey, there will be Christmas carols (villancicos), children will break open star-shapedpiñatas to obtain candy and fruit hidden inside, and there will be a feast.^[4][7] Piñatas are traditionally made out of clay. It is expected to meet all the invitees in a previous procession.

Mary and Joseph knock on each door asking to be let in. They are refused over and over. Little did the innkeepers and members of households in Jesus’ time know that the Savior of the world was right there. His time on earth was about to come. Everyone refused Him entrance.

So I wonder, when God opens the curtains into a struggling family’s life, allows me to peer in and pray. If I do nothing, if we do nothing and pray that someone else will help, have I just refused the Lord of heaven and earth? I didn’t say no to this family. They didn’t ask for my help.  Yet, I see the need. I believe I do refuse My Savior.

Matthew 25:

³⁴ Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you^[g]favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you ^[h]brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and^[i]lodged Me,

³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me ^[j]with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.

So, friends, to you I say, where has God allowed you to see a need? Can you do something about that need? Can you fill it? Can you help?

My thankfuls today(I missed yesterday):

18. I’m so very thankful for the times in these past few days I’ve experienced freedom from dizziness and pain.

19. I’m thankful for a fluffy dog that loves our family unconditionally.

20. I’m thankful for my parents. I have no clue where we would be without them.

21. I’m thankful for warm socks.

22. I’m thankful for my friend who shared deeply her struggles, opened the door and let me in.

23. I’m thankful for my Danny who spent his own money to buy me a gift last night.

Now, about the prophecies:

The Messiah would come from Abraham’s seed.

Genesis 22:

¹⁶ And said, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld [from Me] or begrudged [giving Me] your son, your only son,

¹⁷ In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies,

¹⁸ And in your Seed [^[e]Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.

Abraham did not hold anything back. When the Lord asked for his beloved son, Abraham came to the altar. I reflect on this passage and my heart constricts. I do not know the mind of  God but I wonder how, as God watched Abraham lift the knife, God’s heart must have constricted knowing as He stopped Abraham’s hand, there would come a time when His hand would not be stopped.  Ugh.

So God blessed Abraham. Totally. Utterly. Amazingly. All because A heard God’s voice and obeyed.

Galatians 3: 

¹⁵ To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, [if] even a man makes a last will and testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (ratified, confirmed).

¹⁶ Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir). He [God] does not say, And to seeds (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, And to your Seed (your Descendant, your Heir), obviously referring to one individual, Who is [none other than] Christ (the Messiah).

¹⁷ This is my argument: The Law, which began 430 years after the covenant [concerning the coming Messiah], does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the promise and make it void.

“In his theological argument concerning the Abrahamic covenant, Paul almost unconsciously makes an exceedingly strong affirmation of the verbal inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures, basing his argument not just on one word, but one letter, “seed” instead of “seeds.” Thus the promised “Seed” was not the nation Israel, but the one Person Who alone could fulfill the great promises made to Abraham, namely, Christ. (Defender’s Study Bible)

Praise God! He would not allow His promises to be set aside. There was only one who could fulfill these amazing promises: Jesus.

So, today don’t harden your heart or hope someone else will fill the need He allowed you to see.

Pray on. Pray on.

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