Day 10: Read Matthew 1:22-25

The Birth of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1:22-25 further explains the rationale behind the specifics of Jesus's birth and Joseph's dream. Everything happened in order that what the Lord had said through the prophet would be fulfilled. The prophet had said, "The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son and they will name him Immanuel, which means God is with us." After this is revealed Joseph wakes up and does what the angel told him to do. Joseph took Mary as his wife, but he didn't consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born. When Mary gave birth to a son, Joseph named him Jesus.

One of the ways that God has always demonstrated His work in our lives is through prophecy. Prophecy is a good way to weed out the truth. If I say that a man is coming in 3 days and he will end world hunger then you will know in 3 days if I am right. If he comes then I am telling the truth, but if he doesn't then you know that I do not profess the truth. Throughout history there have been countless claims, but only a select few have come true. These prophecies are measured by their accuracy and their accuracy determines the reliability of the speaker. Now the prophesies written in the Bible are not as specific to their timing as in my example, but they are specific: "The virgin will be pregnant." This isn't an ordinary occurrence and is in fact an impossibility. I suppose technically that today a virgin could become pregnant using in vitro but this was not the case when the prophecy was originally spoken. 

The prophecy itself is an attention grabber because of its sheer implausibility, but it goes on and is even more specific: "She will have a son and they will name him Immanuel, which means God is with us." In this prophecy you are given 3 things: 1) a virgin birth, 2) a son named Immanuel, and 3) God is with us. Mary becoming pregnant when she was a virgin, having a son named Jesus, and then having Jesus die on the cross as the Son of God are the prophecy fulfilled. In the fulfillment you are able to see that speaker is speaking truth. God is real and in Him there is truth. This is important to realize in an age of untruth. More than ever we are bombarded by new thoughts, ideas, and opinions that all claim to be truth, but the reality is there can only be one truth. It is through prophecy that truth can be revealed and in the fulfillment of prophecy the one truth is made clear. Jesus is the truth, He is the way, and He is the source of life. Prophecy has made that much clear.

November Challenge: Day 7

Today I am thankful for friendships. The last two weeks I have been struggling with something that happened in my personal life and I haven't felt able to talk to anyone about the situation. I knew of a few people that I could talk to, even people I wanted to talk to, but in my heart I knew that I couldn't talk to anyone about what happened. There was shame and a fear of judgment, which made me withdraw from relationships. I didn't know how to be honest when answering friend's questions without telling them about what had happened. This was something I struggled with for the last two weeks and something I spent a lot of time praying about. Last night and this morning my prayers were answered in the unexpected text message of a friend. I was able to be honest with her without revealing my personal struggle, but God knew that I needed to talk to her about what had happened and prompted her to keep asking questions that eventually led to the truth. I needed to unload what I had been feeling for the last two weeks and have them understand. I told my friend everything that had happened and I didn't feel judgement or shame. It was a relief to not carry that burden alone anymore. 

Scripture teaches us that God wants us to have these relationships and these friendships so that when we stumble we have someone to help us back up. God gave us marriage so that we had a partner for life, but He also gave us friendships because it isn't good for human beings to be alone. I have a tendency to forget the importance of these relationships, but I sure am grateful God didn't forget. He sent me my friend when I needed her and for the first time in two weeks I feel I can go forward stronger. Today I am very thankful for friendship. What are you thankful for today?

Everything Hidden Will Be Made Known

Today, Luke 8:17 "Everything that is hidden will become clear, and every secret thing will be made known," resonates with me. I don't understand why people hide things. That isn't to say there shouldn't be secrets, there are some secrets that should be kept, but when an action affects someone else you shouldn't hide it. Today, a decision made by someone else was brought into the light. A decision that affected multiple people, who had reason to be concerned, was made and then covered up. That which is hidden will become clear. Upon finding out, feelings were hurt and relationships were put in danger of being broken. I don't understand the point of keeping this decision secret, but the decision has already been made.

This wasn't my decision and I'm not one of the people hurt by it, yet this lesson resonates with me. I think about other things that were hidden, things hidden from me, and how those things always came out. It would have been so much better if the person had been honest from the beginning instead of hiding the truth. Speaking up isn't easy, but the truth is so much better for the heart than a lie. A lie is only adding betrayal to the hurt a truth might cause. For me, a lie is also insulting because it implies I am unable to handle the truth. It robs me of the opportunity to demonstrate my understanding and to love them anyway. Yes, I can still love them after a lie, but it is different because a level of trust has been lost. Everything hidden will become known in the light so just be honest.