I want to take the time to say MERRY CHRISTMAS from all the Through the Winters family to all our readers.  I pray that those reading will be surrounded by loved ones and will be filled with hope and excitement for the new year. 

A Season of Death

Is this a happy time for everyone?  Sadly, not everyone will find this time full of warmth and safety.  There are a group of people that associate this season with loss and death.  Recently, a young lady in my youth group asked for prayer because her brother shot in himself, leaving behind 4 children.  In the last few years she has lost her mother due to a  fast growing cancer, her friend committed suicide and her grandmother died not too long after losing her mother. Now she is saddled with the pain of losing her brother this way.   Last year sorrow rocked my own house when I got a call from one of my young adults from my previous youth group.

One of the members of the youth group was going through so much mentally.  We heard that he was having a hard time.  My husband and I were so close to him while he was growing up.    Things started to change as he became an adult—where he was questioning the realness of God.   He went on his own journey to find God and the meaning of life.  He spoke of God and the things he found out but something in him decided he didn’t want to be here anymore.  Sadly my dear friend went to a hotel around Christmas of 2016 and he took his own life.  Even writing this is hard for me to believe that he’s gone.

How do you celebrate life when all you are surrounded with is death?  For the last three weeks we have been talking about the complexity and complication of bringing Jesus to a world so full of darkness and wickedness.  Click to read article 1 Light in the Darkness, article 2 Finding Elizabeth and article 3 The Pain of Betrayal.  When he finally came, his birth was not a reminder of life but was a time of death for some.

This story can be read in Matthew 2

Travel with me one more time over 2000 years ago where the roads were dusty, the houses were made of stone and hope was so much harder to hold on to.  The idea that our God could not live without us that he wrapped himself in human flesh–and allowed himself to be encased in his creation’s womb–is hard to fathom.  One pastor likened what Jesus did to a rich king who chooses to transform himself into a slug on the rock in someone’s backyard.  Jesus left his amazing home in heaven where everything was perfect and right—not just to live with us—but to be one of us, a mere slug.

Deathly Insecurity

After the birth of Jesus the news of this King of kings spread all over.  There were some that were excited about this life, while others could not find Jesus’ arrival a time to celebrate.  Herod Agrippa was a jealous, cruel, heartless leader that got wind of the arrival of this baby king.  Jesus’ life meant that Herod’s reign over the Jews could be threatened.  It had been hundreds of years since the Jews had a king and he was not about to allow some so called King come and take away his reign.  Maybe he was just making a big deal out of nothing.

It was his luck that some leaders from different nationalities (wisemen) were passing through on their way to see this child.  Somehow they had heard about this child and was going to see him and give him homage.  They had elaborate gifts of all sorts; this just confirmed the rumors of this child.  Let’s just play along, Herod must have thought.  Let me pretend to be as excited of his birth just so I can find him and kill him. 

“Where is this baby born?” He asked.

“In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁶ “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Herod motioned for his people to look into where in Bethlehem this child could have been born.  Then he lied and said,

“Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

The wise men, who lived up to their name and did not return to Herod.  They felt that Herod’s excitement was not genuine.  When Herod realized that he was fooled, he was so angry.  He could not let this King come to take his throne away from him.  He had to do something.  He was so bent on his pride, anger and ultimate fear.

His paranoia was so desperate that he decreed that all children from birth to two years old to be killed.  God knew the heart of this wicked man that he appeared to Joseph a second time.  This time he needed Joseph to protect His one and only Son.  He woke up Joseph and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”  God chose Joseph for a reason.  Joseph could be trusted even though this child was not his own see article 3 .

As God was saving his only son, several families were losing their sons to preserve the life of the Light of the World,  and keep the complicated promise alive.

A Hard Question

How does someone resolve in their mind that God allowed a dozen and a half families in a whole town to lose their children?  You see the birth of Jesus was not a time of joy, rejoicing and excitement for everyone.  For years to come the time of Jesus’ birth was not a time of gift giving, singing or warm reflections; it was a time of a painful reminder of the wickedness, hopelessness, and lifelessness this world offered.  Why does God allow such wickedness?  Why does he allow death to be showed on others while protecting others?  Is this truly fair?

If I tried to explain our God and his ways I would not do it justice.  I could spew out nonsense that doesn’t give hope but would just raises more questions.  So let me tell you what I know no matter what the circumstances are.

1. God is good even when my world is falling apart.  God did not cause the dark wickedness, it was the very reason why he was coming.  He came as the light so that we can see traps, ditches and pitfalls.  It is actions like Herod’s that made God say, I need to leave my throne and wrap myself in this flesh and be a slug in this unforgiving world.  The arrival of our savior caused a war in the spiritual world.  A light was shone and when a light is turned on in a place that was in the dark for so long, things grow and live.   God needed to come because man would rather hold on to the lies of this world than the truth of his love.  Jesus rescuing us from ourselves and eternal destruction was not easily and despite it all, there were casualties.
2. The enemy wants to distract us with death so we won’t embrace life. Herod knew this King was going to take his place someday.  If he was not convinced of this than he wouldn’t have gone after him.  Satan knows that God is going to take control and dethrone him so he raises havoc in our lives to keep us blinded to God’s goodness.  When Jesus comes into our lives then the enemy turns up the heat to distract us from his entry.  He goes after things that mean a lot to us so that we can question God and his ways.  Don’t be fooled that Satan plays fair.
3. We must live without answers. Faith is not faith without having unanswered questions.  Sometimes we can’t see ourselves living our lives with God if he doesn’t answer the “why” questions.  Do we have real faith when all of our questions are answered?  God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours and when we are crippled with hurt, blinded by pain and consumed by our own will, than we can’t even see God’s hand.  We can’t see the war going on, we just see how God failed us.

Weekly Challenge:

As we end our year I would love for you to listen to this message by Robert Morris called, “Under Attack”.  It is such a good message about looking at perspective and seeing how the enemy tries to come in.

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