Advent Day 23: Joy

FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT – MONDAY December 23, 2024

READ Luke 1:26–33
Mary is told by the angel that she will bring forth a son and his name will be Jesus and “he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

REFLECT
There is a famous quote from the book The Count of Monte Cristo: “All human wisdom is summed up in two words, wait and hope.” All through Scripture we see God calling people to wait and hope. Noah and his family in the ark. Daniel in the lion’s den. Jonah inside the great fish. And here we see Mary, a young teenage girl who must wait and hope. She doesn’t know how things will turn out, and she knows she will face a very difficult situation in the months to come—gossiped about, condemned, unable to defend herself. But she waits and she hopes. God faithfully redeems; it’s our job to wait and hope, trusting in the goodness and power of God.

There is incredible joy in seeing God’s faithfulness at the end of a time of waiting and hoping. It’s often hard to see what God is doing in the moment, but when we look back, we see his hand controlling all our circumstances. There is great joy in that moment.

Just as Mary waited and hoped and ultimately found great joy in what God would do through her, we too must be willing to wait and hope in the Lord. We can wait with unshakeable faith and joy, because later Mary waited (perhaps without much hope) when the son she had laid in a manger was laid in a tomb. Yet even then God was at work, finishing his plan: Jesus would conquer death!

We can wait and hope in Christ with joy in any circumstance because he offers us redemption and reconciliation with our Heavenly Father. So as you reflect on the birth of Christ this Advent season, remember that there is great wisdom and immense joy in waiting and hoping in the Lord.

PRAY
Pray to your heavenly father with thanksgiving for sending his Son to redeem us. Ask him to help you to wait and hope in him with joyful anticipation and to draw strength in the knowledge that he has been and will be faithful in every situation, even the hard circumstances of life and even in death! Amen.