December 10th
Imagine knowing that Christmas is coming but not knowing when it will arrive. Imagine being told that this incredible day, filled with gifts and laughter, cookies and hope, is in your future but all you can do is wait. So, you wait. For days. For weeks. For months. And…nothing. Should you stop looking? Should you stop believing? Should you just give up?
Ever since the death of King David, God’s people had tried to hold on to hope. But their optimism had run its course. Things were bleak. During the time of the prophet Isaiah, God’s people witnessed the Assyrian army march into Israel and chop it down like a tree.
The faithful followers of God who remained knew the prophecies. They knew that a descendant of the tribe of Abraham was supposed to be the One who would crush evil, establish Israel, and rule forever. But how could that happen? With the family tree being nothing more than a stump, how could God’s promise be fulfilled? What good was stump except to be a place to sit and think about what might have been?
From the pit of despair, Isaiah spoke these words:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. Isaiah 11:1-5
A “shoot.”
From the “stump of Jesse,” a “shoot” would grow.
Just when it seemed that the story was over, God promised to take what was left and grow it into a gift.
If disappointment or tragedy has come into your life and chopped down your dreams, you are not alone. If it feels like the best of your life is behind you and your glory years are in the rearview, you are not alone. If it feels like you have waited so long for God to restore things that it seems foolish to hope any longer, you are not alone.
God has a track record of growing hope out of things that have been chopped down.
On the first Christmas, a “Branch” was born from the chopped down family tree of Jesse, King David’s father. This Branch would be the King of the world who would rule with righteousness. This Branch…this King…would be named Jesus.
Take a moment now to be honest with God about your disappointments. Your dreams that have been chopped down. Your hopes that have all but disappeared. Ask Him to restore your belief and give you the will to wait. No matter how impossible things may seem, it’s not over until God says it’s not over. He makes all things new.