Christmas Eve Reflection
I woke up this morning, made a cup of coffee, and sat down to be with God. I read my assigned reading for the day and it was ok, but I wouldn’t say anything spectacular or deeply moving came from it. Maybe if I gave more time for meditation things would have come up.
Feeling drawn to prayer and wanting to become more sensitive to the spirit, not less, I turned to a random Psalm. This is a practice I have been using for a while (heres a great article from Desiring God on it) because it helps me slow down, have a more structured time of prayer, and brings things to mind I wouldn’t often think of.
Praying the Psalms is essentially reading a verse of the Psalm and then praying back to God whatever reflection the verse causes in you.
Psalm 116 - I Love The Lord
I turned to Psalm 116 and began reading.
“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, and therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”
As I read this what began to come to my mind was how thankful I was to God for the past year. God has truly heard my prayers. For some of them, over years of time of praying, He has begun to work in those prayers. In others, the gift He has given is His presence in the waiting.
I started to ponder. “Do I love you God?” I do. What a beautiful God we have. One who hears us. Who cares for us. Who, as verse 5 says “is righteous and merciful” and “saves us when we are low”. God truly meets us at our lowest points.
Spend Time With God This Christmas Eve
I don’t know what you you need to do for this to happen. Maybe you need to block off 15 minutes after the kids go to bed. Or maybe you need to turn off the video games a few minutes before you leave to go to family parties. Whatever it is, I can promise you, God longs to meet with us. He hears our prayers.
Go to Him. His arms are open.
“But I am sinful and have been struggling”.
He wants you. He saves the lowly.
“But it has been so long since I prayed”.
You may have taken 100 steps away from God, but to return to Him is only 1 step back.
“But my grief is so heavy this Christmas, I have no words".
Jesus once had no words when His heart was “greatly troubled” and the only thing He did was weep. Weep with Him.
Christmas is about Jesus being with us. So be with Him. It is the greatest gift we have.
Thankful for Jesus and working to know Him more and more each day,
Josh.
