Not Out Of Hope

December 2, 2019

  Not Out Of Hope

And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD’s strength,

in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

Micah 5:4a

We are now in the Christian season of Advent. This English word comes from a Latin word meaning “coming,” and as used in the Christian calendar, it designates the four Sundays before Christmas during which Christians reflect on the meaning of the second coming of Christ and prepare for the Christmas season (Twelve days from Christmas to the Epiphany, January 6). The first and the final coming of Christ are connected because it is our belief in the first coming of Jesus – his birth and his life, death and resurrection – that gives us faith and hope in his promised coming again in final victory.

The Old Testament Prophet Micah announced God’s promise that He would send Jesus who “shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.” (Micah 5:4) This promise of God came to Micah during one of the worst times in the history of Israel. Like Israel, today we are living through a very difficult time, and like Micah’s Israel, we may be almost out of hope.

The Season of Advent stands over and against the enemies of hope.

The Season of Advent gives us an alternative to the fear caused by terrorism and the anxiety caused by crumbling Christian traditions within our country. For the next month, if we just take the time to look with eyes of faith, we will be surrounded by signs of hope. Even though the celebration of Christmas has become very secularized as our culture tries to turn our Joy to the World into just a winter festival, for the fully devoted followers of Jesus, we can see signs of hope in every cluster of mistletoe, every wreath and all the lights adorning homes and businesses.

God’s promise is that Jesus, our Messiah, is our strength, our security and our peace. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us rejoice in all the signs of his presence with us throughout this Advent Season.

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!

    She will give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel,

    which means ‘God is with us.’”

                                                            Matthew 1:23

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.