Advent Devotional: Day 12
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Faith is not easy. Especially when we are called to believe in a God we cannot see with our eyes or hear with our ears. “Seeing is believing,” we say because it’s easier to believe in the visible as opposed to the invisible. “Show, don’t tell,” was one of the first things I learned about writing.
But the invisible often appears in the visible. We experience the love of God through the love of others, we see God’s provision when we sit down to a meal, we see God’s creativity in the beauty of a sunset or hear it in the sweet song of a bird.
God shows up in the unexpected also. A virgin could not expect to give birth, but Mary did. No one was expecting Jesus to be born in a stable, but He was. No one would expect shepherds, considered less than human, to be the first witnesses of His birth, but they were.
If faith is not easy, how do we show it? We show our faith by how we live. Do we trust God to take care of us as He promised? Or do we constantly worry about the everyday? Do we take our blessings for granted? Do we fool ourselves into believing everything and everyone will stay the same? When trials come do we cry, “Why is this happening to me?”
If we are unswerving and hold on to our faith, not only can we bear unexpected trials; we will find joy in unexpected blessings. We may lose a job, but with faith we will find another one. We may get a raise when we weren’t asking for one. We may experience financial hardship, but God will take care of us because “He who promised is faithful.” We can experience the healing of a loved one when we were told there was no hope. We may lose a loved one, but with faith we can cherish who and what we still have left. We may get a surprise gift from a friend “just because.”
When God moves in our lives, it’s always for the best. Let’s be ready for Him however and whenever He chooses to work.
“Dear Lord, help us to live out our faith by trusting in You both in the valley and on the mountaintop. Amen. ”
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