Thank you for reading my series about what we need for Christmas.
Remember that whatever mess we find ourselves and the world in, Christmas is a reminder that God has not given up on us and on the world. Isaiah 9:6, a prophecy from around 700 BC describes the Christ we celebrate each Christmas:
“And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
To meet our deepest, most significant needs, this Christ is provided for us. As Wonderful Counselor, He is our source of wisdom; (covered in this post) As Mighty God, He will empower us to live as He did; (this post) As Everlasting Father, He invites us with unconditional love into His family; (this post) As Prince of Peace, He buys peace between us and Him, and between us and others. (this post)
“Four gifts for Christmas. They are the greatest gifts that anybody can give or we can have, and they are all in Jesus. They are for us. They are for you, if you will have them.” – James Montgomery Boice
Celebrate these gifts today!
In closing here is a video of the Royal Choral Society performing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah, for He, the Christ of Christmas, shall reign forever and ever:
A recent post was about Jeremiah’s comparison of false religion to a broken cistern, with God alternatively being “the fountain of living waters.”[1] Jeremiah lived when most of God’s people – including most of the priests and prophets – had turned from Him to follow other gods. As Jeremiah remained faithful, correctly predicting that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon, he was persecuted, including this instance in Jeremiah 38:6, where King Zedekiah’s officials “took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.”
Since God is “the fountain of living waters,” the only path to eternal blessing, it’s incredibly ironic that Jeremiah, one of the few remaining faithful prophets and therefore a rare source of God’s “living waters,” should be cast into a cistern with no water. Perhaps it was broken. King Zedekiah thought he could silence the “living waters” Jeremiah represented by casting them into a cistern, trading truth for falsehood.
Later, Jeremiah seems to recall the cistern experience in Lamentations 3:52-57, where he said:
“I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’ ‘I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’”
Returning to the book of Jeremiah, we read that Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, heard of Jeremiah’s situation and pleaded his case: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”[2] This unlikely source – a foreigner – was Jeremiah’s deliverance from God to rescue Jeremiah from the well. Ebed-melech gathered 30 men, “Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.”
Jeremiah was not the only Old Testament figure to suffer for his faithfulness. Many years earlier, King David also referred to “sinking in the mire” in the Messianic Psalm 69, verses 14-15:
“Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.”
David knew this feeling of sinking came not because of his sin, but when he was faithfully serving his Lord. David’s “sinking in the mire” happened under these circumstances from verse 9 of the same Psalm:
“For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”
In Jeremiah’s case, as well as David’s and that of Jesus, whom Psalm 69 foreshadowed[3], we know that cannot judge our faithfulness based on whether it improves our circumstances. When we do, we might stop being faithful because it seems we are “sinking in the mire.” Being reproached by the world and feeling down aren’t the circumstances we prefer, but “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[4] Through these and all other circumstances, God develops in us deeper trust in Him.
Therefore, with David may we pray:
“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” – Psalm 69:13
And in His time, He will deliver us, perhaps in ways we don’t expect.
Coda
In 1995, Christian rock group Jars of Clay released their self-titled album, and the track “Flood” has similar themes to this post. The song was also a mainstream hit, charting as high as No. 12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,[5] amazing for a song that is essentially a prayer like David’s in Psalm 69.
Sometimes the Bible asks us to do things that are hard to take literally. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul writes that we should “pray without ceasing.” Other translations say “pray continually,” the same basic message. But what does it mean? We can’t kneel, fold our hands, and repeat the Lord’s Prayer all day every day. Paul wasn’t asking us to do the impossible, but how does one actually do this?
The life of Nehemiah, partially recorded in the Old Testament book bearing his name, may provide a good example for us. Around 445 B.C., Nehemiah was part of the third group of exiles in Babylon to return to Jerusalem. About 90 years after the first group returned, he heard Jerusalem’s walls and gates were still in ruins. He returned to lead the rebuilding of the walls, meeting opposition along the way from those who moved into the area during the exile as well as some of the Jews themselves.
Scattered throughout the book are several brief prayers, what Warren Wiersbe called “telegraph prayers,” [1] in 1992, but we might call them Twitter prayers now. These very short appeals to God are often made quickly and quietly, and you might say “continually.” I’ll put them in 3 categories:
The first group of these prayers are prayers for strength. Early in the story, Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and had to work up the nerve to ask the king to let him return to Jerusalem and take on the work of rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah 2:4 says: “Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.” We don’t know what exactly he prayed, but he must have done it silently and quickly during his conversation with the king, otherwise the king might have been offended. Prayers can be dropped right into any conversation![2]
Second are prayers for justice, which are similar to the “imprecatory,” or cursing, Psalms, such as Psalm 58. In these prayers and Psalms the writers curse the enemies of the writer and of God. Instead of taking time away from the work on the wall, or vowing to take vengeance themselves, Nehemiah trusted God to righteously judge all evil. In Nehemiah 6:14, he prays this about his opposition: “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.” Nehemiah is honest with God about his frustrations but turns them over to God to take care of them.[3] We too can pray for God to handle any scores we feel we need to settle during the day!
The third category are prayers of dedication, reminders that the work is being done for God and asking that He bless the outcome, as well as the workers, including Nehemiah personally. In Nehemiah 13:14, after the walls were rebuilt and he oversaw the collection of the tithe, he prayed: “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.”[4] God does not forget any service given to Him, but we can pray to remind ourselves who we serve and trust that He will remember!
Nehemiah’s constant life of worship was made up of more than just short prayers made in the moment. Longer prayers (all of chapter 9) and fasting are recorded, and along with these short prayers are a clue as to what it means to “pray without ceasing.” It means to always keep the lines of communication open, to consider that God is there, willing to listen, and lovingly able to bless His people any time. Even a split second in the middle of something is a good time to pray because His love for us is steadfast. We always need Him, and He is always able to meet our need!
Therefore, we can repeat the prayer of Psalm 66:20, which says:
“Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”
Coda
Steven Curtis Chapman’s 1996 song “Let Us Pray” captures this idea of “pray without ceasing” beautifully. In it he sings that we should pray “every moment of the day,” because “the Father above, He is listening with love and He wants to answer us”
You can read the song’s lyrics at this link. Or listen to the full song at this link.
[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Determined (Nehemiah) (1992). P. 34. [2] Nehemiah 6:9 is another example. [3] Nehemiah 4:4-5 and 13:29 are similar prayers. [4] Nehemiah 5:19, 13:22, and 13:30-31 are similar.
Tradition suggests that Psalm 24 was used at the start of temple services in ancient Jerusalem, possibly commemorating the Ark of the Covenant moving from Obed-edom’s house to Jerusalem, an event recorded in 2 Samuel 6:10-12:
“So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household. And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.”
This was the second attempt to move the ark, the first attempt having ended in disaster, in 1 Samuel 6:6-8:
“And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day.”
God gave detailed instructions for moving the ark in the book of Numbers 4:9-20. It was supposed to be carried on the shoulders of Levites descended from Kohath. Instead, they moved the ark as the Philistines did (1 Sam 6). The judgment of Uzzah reminded Israel that God is not to be taken lightly or for granted.
Today’s post is a flashback to the 1989 song by Christian rock band Petra, “The King of Glory Shall Come In,” which is based on Psalm 24. When Psalm 24:3, referenced in the song’s verse, says “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?” David, the author, is asking who is worthy to be in God’s presence. However, the chorus of the song is my favorite part. Some believe verses 7 to 10 of Psalm 24 were a call-and-response between the priests and the people, who cried out for God to be among them. Knowing they are unworthy; they still need and desire His presence among them. The song imagines what that call-and-response might have been like, but in 80’s praise-rock style!
Call for the King of Glory to come into you today! By the sacrifice of Jesus you can “stand in his holy place” with “clean hands and a pure heart.”
For just the lyrics, go here, but for the audio of the full song, click below:
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.” – Ecclesiastes 5:1
When recently reading Ecclesiastes I was initially put off by the seeming harshness of this verse. What sort of sacrifice to God is foolish, or even evil? What is this verse of the Bible I believe in telling me to do, or not to do, and how does it point to Christ?
Then I was reminded of Micah 6:6-8: “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
When Jesus said “it is finished” on the cross, He was saying His sacrifice is enough and it is all we need. We don’t go to church to negotiate with or bargain with God. We cannot impress God. We can offer nothing He does not already have and has not already provided. This is good news!
We only offer ourselves in worship. We “draw near to listen”, to know Him, and to follow Him. Take a listen to one of my favorite hymns today and just be available for whatever He has in store for you. He is enough for you, and for the world.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 