December 16 | Psalm 105:1-11

---

DAILY READING

Psalm 105:1-11

---

REFLECTION

Stirring Up Joy

by Mary Alice McGinnis

When I was a girl, my mom spent hours upon hours, days upon days, and weeks upon weeks preparing some special Christmas treats. Her preparation began in the beginning of November, collecting all her favorite Christmas cookie recipes, then heading off to the store to buy all the best ingredients. Each week in November, she would bake one or two of her favorite recipes.

Christmas cutouts with buttercream frosting and sprinkles.

Rich, soft molasses and date cookies.  

Yummy pecan sandies.

Lovely white peaks of divinity made from baked meringue.

Mouthwatering, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies. 

Scrumptious snickerdoodles.

Buckeyes and other homemade chocolates. (Just to name a few.)

Mom’s cookie making required a lot of stirring. These cookies could not be whipped up with an electric mixer. Oh no, no, no. All the ingredients needed to be tossed into her bowl and carefully stirred together using a large wooden spoon until mixed just right.

The end result?

Dozens of various kinds of goodies, baked and shaped to perfection. To bring some joy, some extra special Christmas cheer - to our friends, family, and neighbors.

In today’s reading, the Psalmist is gently, yet enthusiastically, stirring up our hearts to “Give praise to the Lord.” Notice all the verbs he uses? 

Give praise!

Proclaim!

Make known!

Sing!

Tell!

Glory!

Look!

Seek!

Remember!

Just like the ingredients in cookie dough, each verb interacts with the previous, to stir our hearts into more and more heightened, intense, exuberant worship!

And who is the object of all this rejoicing? Is it our circumstances? Is it the money we have or the food on our table? Is it our family and friends? Is it the job we have or the house we live in? Is it dependent upon who will be around our Christmas table this year?

No! The center of our praise - the reason for our rejoicing - is the LORD!

The word “LORD” in the Hebrew is Yahweh—the “I Am Who I Am,” the personal name of God. His name was thought to be so holy that they could not even speak it, so they used the name Jehovah.

He has done wonderful things!

His name is Holy!

We can rely upon His strength!

We can seek His face!

We can remember all His mighty deeds, all His miracles, and His power and justice reigns supreme.

We need only to remind ourselves of the promises He has made, and that He will fulfil every one of them! His eternal covenant will be accomplished.

Hundreds of years later, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, filled with the Holy Spirit repeated some of these same words from today’s Psalm. It was revealed to him that God was unfolding His everlasting covenant promise before his very eyes. Jesus was born, “to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.”

The name Jesus means—Jehovah Saves. He is the God incarnate born to save us! 

Oh, Joy upon Joy! If we have nothing else to rejoice about, He is more than enough. He is worthy! When we remember His wonders, they are enough to stir up everlasting, exuberant, JOY!  

PRAYER

Stir up our hearts, Oh Lord, to praise You. When our hearts are darkened by all the sadness, cruelty, brokenness of our world, turn our hearts to see YOU. Help us to seek Your face. You have promised that those who seek You, Lord, will rejoice. Remind us again and again of all Your wondrous deeds from the beginning of time until even now. And all that You will YET DO! You sent Jesus to save us! And You are coming back for us!

We give You praise! We proclaim You! We will make You known! We sing! We tell! We boast and glory in YOU! We look to You. We seek You! We remember all You have done.

You are our everlasting, unending JOY!

December 15 | Amos 9:11-15

---

DAILY READING

Amos 9:11-15

---

REFLECTION

Israel's Restoration

by David Thompson

When we think about writers of the Bible, we usually think of learned men who held the titles of rabbi, priest, apostle or other man of God designations, however Amos would not fit any of these titles. He was a layperson, an ordinary fellow who herded sheep and tended to orchards. He was just a man with a passion for God. He could be sitting in one of our pews if he lived today, and we might not be the wiser.

This man received a vision from God and instead of sitting on it, he set out for the northern kingdom of Israel. This didn't include the southern kingdom of Judah. We know from other studies that the two regions of Israel had disagreements and had broken away from each other. Each had their own king. Although both kingdoms were worshiping idols, Amos's warning was given to the northern kingdom alone. Some of what Amos was bringing did filter to Judah. His message was one of warning about what would happen if the Israelites continued to live the way they were living.

The book of Amos opens up in the desert of the southern kingdom with a shepherd tending his sheep. God gave him a vision of impending doom and directed him to go. He did. He spoke to a number of residents of northern Israel. The book tells of the story of all of Amos's efforts and failures. The residents of the north didn't repent and continued on with their sinning ways. Complacent in their ways and their lives, God through Amos predicted doom and exile. We today should examine ourselves and check the complacency meter as it is easy to fall into that way of thinking.

God was slow to anger as He is with us, but His wrath was brought full force when He had enough. Great suffering and turmoil was brought upon the people who continued to sin. However, their was hope. In Chapter 9:11-15, we read that those who remained would be lifted up and restored by God. God's promise of a godly ruler in the line of David was fulfilled by Christ and His resurrection. This promised kingdom was to include the remnants of Edom (a gentile people). This gives hope to us all that we are GOD'S chosen people as well. And, what does God expect in return; going to church and being good - NO. He expects us to believe in Christ and to have that belief penetrate into all areas of our lives.

PRAYER

Dear God,

It is hard to read about your wrath as it is a harsh reminder that even though the book of Amos happened during the Old Covenant. We are now in the New Covenant, when things seem less harsh, your promises of end times judgement is real. Help us pay attention to the Amos's that come into our lives and ask the Holy Spirit to come along side each of us to help to put our lives in order. You are a great and patient God, but help us understand that we do have responsibilities to you. We are forever grateful for your provision and love for us. Amen!

DECEMBER 14| MATTHEW 11:2-19

---

DAILY READING

MATTHEW 11:2-19

---

REFLECTION

It's All Connected

by Judy Webb

I started to visit a chiropractor about back pain that impeded my daily living. As my aching back improved, I started to talk with the chiropractor about other issues. Then one day when he asked how I was feeling I decided to tell him about my sore neck and shoulders. The pain made it difficult to turn my head from side to side.

I couldn’t understand how he could fix this. I began to quiz him, and he simply replied, “Everything is Connected.” I thought about this, and it began to make sense, reminding me of the song about the Neck Bone’s connected to the…” song. (Of course, then I had that tune stuck in my head for a day.)

I came across a similar idea of connectedness when preparing to write on the text from Matthew 11:12-19.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Matthew 11:15)

I was surprised to discover other locations in scripture where the words from verse 15 appear. This was exciting, I felt there must be much more meaning to these words than I first imagined.

• Revelation 2:11 “He who has an ear, let him hear.” Sometimes truth is difficult to grasp.

• Jesus concluded the Parable of the Sower with Luke 8:8 “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it.

• Matthew 13:43 “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” From the parable of the weeds.

This repetition continues regarding John the Baptist. 11:10 reads: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.”

Again, in Malachi 3:1, “I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me.”

And Isaiah 40:3, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

John was preparing the way for Jesus, by telling people to change their ways, repent and get ready. It is the same message today, the message of ADVENT. Get ready, repent and watch for Jesus. To enter the Kingdom, one must exercise faith in both John's message and Jesus' identity as the One John heralded.

PRAYER

Dear Lord,

This season of Advent is great time to reflect on Jesus and to repair our relationship with Him. These four weeks are set aside to ponder our lives and make any changes necessary in order to welcome Jesus.