When Job spoke to his wife in the following chapter he said
“aren’t we supposed to expect both good and evil from God?” (Job 2:10). When
God takes something away from us, we should not be surprised. But when he gives
us good things it shouldn’t startle us either.
When I first got pregnant I kept waiting for God to take the
babies away. And I must admit it’s still a near daily struggle for me. While I
don’t have a hard time believing that God is sovereign, I do have a hard time
believing that this sovereignty means anything but the right to arbitrarily
take away every good thing from my life.
In those moments, my thoughts reveal that I fundamentally have
a sinful view of God. I am viewing God as a cosmic being who snatches goodness
from us just for kicks, instead of believing that he is the gracious and loving
God that the Scriptures point to. God delights in giving good gifts to his
children. Even Jesus touches on this when he encourages us to consider how much
God cares for us, even more than earthly fathers ever could. And this is
relevant for how I even prepare my heart for Christmas this year.
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas 2013 we are reminded
that God is a God who lavishes us with kindness in ways we can’t even begin to
count. We should expect good from God, and not only evil. We should believe that
he is for our good and not our harm. We should believe that he delights in
giving us good gifts year after year.
How do we know this?
The baby born thousands of years ago reminds us of these
truths. The fact that God came to earth to save us from our sins is the
greatest gift of all. The baby in a manger is a tangible reminder that God is
for us, not against us.
And as I sit here with two busy boys having a party in my
womb I am overwhelmed by God’s kindness to me this Christmas, but not just this
Christmas, every Christmas before it, too. The Christmases of past years were
only preparation for the joy I feel this Christmas. They were all a gift from
our gracious God. Christmas of 2010 and 2011 were only a prelude to the
excitement of this Christmas. It was as if God was saying to me in those years
of sadness, “hold on, dear Courtney. I am giving you the gift of suffering, but
I am preparing for you the gift of gladness very soon.”
I am praising God today for all the ways he prepared us for this Christmas. And I’m praising him for these two boys that we will meet very soon.
God does give and he does take away—and his name will be
praised for all of it. It is through this giving and this taking that I see him
more clearly and love him more deeply. And that is how I can bless his name for
this Christmas of abundance, and the Christmases of barrenness, too.
4 comments:
I love reading these posts! Thanks for the reminder!
You are welcome!
Amen amen!! Love this!!
Imwinningipromise.blogspot.com
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