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Category: Unexpected Advent (Page 3 of 3)

Shrubbery

December 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I really like to garden. I plant flowers around my house and tons of plants in my garden. I water them and fertilize them. I even cut them back in the winter, at least the ones that are supposed to last year after year. But never in all my years have I ever had a plant talk to me. Yet that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today. 

The unexpected places that God shows up in life never cease to amaze me, but this one has to be one of the coolest. There’s a story in Exodus 3 where Moses is taking care of some sheep for his father-in-law. He’s literally minding his own business when it happens. He sees a fire just off in the distance. And like any curious man would do, he went to see what was burning. Men typically think one of two things when there’s a fire by the way. Cool what’s burning and why didn’t they invite me to light the match! And Is it a barbecue? 

This was neither and I don’t think Moses even had time to think those thoughts. He was completely overwhelmed by the presence of a bush that was on fire. And if a burning bush in the middle of nowhere wasn’t enough, it started to talk to him!

Check this out from Exodus 3:6. And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Here God shows up to talk to Moses in the form of a bush! Yeah for those of you who are Monty Python fans, that’s shrubbery! That gives a whole new spin on “burning bush” to be certain. You may never see a bush on fire that isn’t being burned. You may never hear God speak to you from the middle of a bush that’s literally burning. But we can see God all over the place in nature around us. 

Take time today to look for God in the frosty ground or the colorful sunset. See if you can find him in a spiderweb or the sound of the wind rushing through the trees. Look for God in unexpected places and you’ll see Him just about everywhere. 

In Your Dreams

December 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Are you a dreamer? You know the kind of dream you see and experience when you’re deep in sleep. I can’t remember the last time I had a dream. As kids our dreams are active and filled with color and excitement. Sometimes those dreams turn dark and fill with scary images – we call those nightmares. But they’re still dreams. 

I know what you’re thinking this is an advent devotion and I’m reading it with my kids. What is he doing talking about nightmares!?! You got me. Advent isn’t about nightmares at all actually, but it is about the unexpected. 

Remember how this week is all about God showing up in unexpected places? Well today’s place is in dreams. There’s a story in the Bible about a man named Jacob. He had a dream one day of a huge ladder that reached all the way to heaven. Who sat atop this ladder? Yep! You guessed it – God. 

Jacob didn’t lay down to take a nap because he thought he’d see God. He slept because he was tired. You know just like we sleep when we’re tired. But the cool part here is that God showed up in Jacob’s dream! 

The point here is all about God showing up in the most unexpected of places. Some of those places are not places we’d ever expect Jesus to show up. I mean a small town in the middle of nowhere Israel? A whisper in the side of a cliff? A dream a guy has laying on a rock? 

Take time today to look for God in those unexpected places. 

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Genesis 28:11-13 

Quiet Places

December 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Noise is everywhere.

This time of year seems to just amplify that reality. All you have to do is go to the mall and listen as the Christmas music that’s piped through the less than adequate sound system. Go to McDonald’s and hear the hustle and bustle of yelling children. Even in churches through the Advent season you’ll hear more and more children playing with their toys, crumbling papers, coloring, and calling for mom to pick them up.

In a world filled with noise, we’re hard pressed to find a place to find God. The noise seems to distract us from where He might be found. And this brings us to the second stop in our unexpected places tour. Silence.

There’s a story in the Bible in a book called 1 Kings where a man named Elijah tries to find God. There are a series of noises that come his way. They are loud and boisterous sounds. Powerful displays of might. But God wasn’t in any of them. While Elijah is tucked into a little cave on the side of a mountain, a gentle breeze-like whisper comes through. And oddly enough this is right where God is found.

And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.  And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:12-13

The gentle breeze. The whisper of God. We tend to look for God in the power moments and the big lights. The huge tree of Christmas or the fully decked out house. But God doesn’t roll like that. Instead He comes in unassuming ways. A gentle whisper on a dark night. But why a whisper.

A whisper draws us in. The loud moments put us on our heels. They make us cower in fear. They push us farther into the caves of life. But the whisper allows us to lean in. We have to come forward to hear the words and experience the presence of the one speaking.

The long expected gift of Christmas comes not in the loud and gaudy but in the soft, quiet, gentle whisper that we have to lean into in order to hear fully. Lower your voice. Quiet your mind. Listen for the unexpected whisper of God this Advent.

Unexpected Place Galilee

December 1, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Advent is a season of waiting for God to show up. For those of us who are followers of Jesus, it’s a season of a month’s long anticipation. As children, the season of Advent was more about Santa and presents than Jesus and angels. But as we grew up that anticipation became something deeper. We lost the desire to get more gifts and focused on giving the special gift to the special someone.

This Advent devotion is about finding that perfect gift in the unexpected. The statement is true that says God tends to work in some very unexpected ways. We begin by looking at the unexpected places that Advent reveals.

Our first stop is Nazareth in Galilee. It’s a no name place really. But in the grand scheme of things it’s the perfect location to find the greatest gift of all.

Galilee was a place of great turmoil in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 9:1 we read, But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

No gloom? What’s that about? And Zebulun, Naphtali, Galilee? Where is that? The simple answer is that those provinces were all northern provinces of Israel at one point. This was the place where nearly all of the enemy nations would invade. They’d come traipsing through these little provinces leaving them in darkness, devastation and death. Gloom was all they knew!

But here the promise would be that in the most unexpected of places is exactly where God would do His most amazing and perfect work. It was into the darkness of an unexpected place like Galilee that God would send His Son.

As you wait with great anticipation for Christmas, looking for that perfect gift. Remember the greatest gift you ever received wasn’t found in the most expensive store that was perfectly decorated. It was found in a dark town. In a rundown province. In a war torn region that knew darkness and needed light.

It’s often in the most unexpected places that we find greatest evidence of God’s love.

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