The Dawn of Hope
It’s December 1st! Can you believe it? The air has a slight chill, and suddenly, everywhere I look, there are twinkle lights popping up. This time of year always fills me with a mix of energy and a sense of quiet longing that makes me want to snuggle up with a hot chocolate and reflect on what really matters.
And that’s exactly what I want to do this month. My focus is on ensuring the noise and rush don't drown out the most important part of the season: Christ.
Think about the world right now, and maybe even your own life, right where you are sitting. Even with all the beauty of the holidays, there's often a deep, persistent sense of darkness, isn't there? Maybe it's a fear you’re wrestling with, a goal you haven’t reached, or just the heaviness of the daily news cycle.
This is the darkness that the very first Christmas story broke through.
The prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before a baby was born in Bethlehem, spoke this incredibly powerful message about the coming Messiah in Chapter 9, Verse 2 (KJV): "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."
Can you feel the weight of that? Imagine a people who had been waiting for generations. No clear word from God. Just silence, struggle, and what must have felt like spiritual gloom. They were walking in the "shadow of death." They were waiting for rescue. Then, Isaiah steps in and declares, upon them hath the light shined. He wasn't just talking about a flashlight or a candle; he was talking about a Divine sunrise, a hope so bright it completely changed the landscape.
That’s what this season is all about. It’s not just celebrating a historical event; it’s recognizing that the Light that broke into that ancient world is the same Light that can break into our personal darkness today.
Maybe you’ve been "walking in darkness," feeling a bit lost or discouraged. Maybe you’ve been dwelling in the "shadow of death," wrestling with something heavy that just won't lift. This December, I want us to anchor ourselves to the promise that the Light hath shined.
The Incarnation—God choosing to come down as a baby—was the ultimate act of bringing light into the shadow. He didn't send a memo or a messenger; He came Himself. And because of that, our hope isn't based on how brightly our own lives are shining, but on the fact that the Great Light has already arrived.
Let’s take a cue from the classic hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. That song is all about the deep longing for God to finally show up and rescue us. As we begin this month, let’s embrace that longing, not with anxiety, but with hopeful anticipation, knowing that the "Emmanuel" (God with us) we pray for has already promised to be present in our darkness.
Today, let's acknowledge the darkness we see around us or feel within us, and then turn our focus entirely toward the great light that hath shone in Jesus Christ. Hold onto that truth: The dawn of hope is here.