Countdown to Christmas - December 12, 2022

What else did you have? 

My husband is on a diet. He has asked me to help him plan his meals and count his calories.

What do you mean? He feigned innocence.

What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean, what else did you have to eat? 

After seventeen years with this man, I could tell. He'd stopped for a slice of pizza on his way home. I know my husband. 

I was reading Genesis 37 this morning. It's the first good look we get of Joseph (not Jesus' step-father, but the one with the fancy coat) and his relationship with his family. Jacob, Joseph's father, played favorites and Joseph was it. That created resentment among all Jacob's other sons and Joseph exploited it:

Hey, guys, guess what! I had a dream you were all bowing down to me! Is that cool or what?

No, it was not. But Joseph's hubris didn't stop there:

Hey, Dad, guess what! I had a dream you, mom, and all my brothers were bowing down to me! Is that cool or what?

As parents, we want to champion our children, to inspire them to great things and give them as many opportunities as we are able, but in the natural, Jacob wasn't hearing anything about bowing to his own son! Oh, you really think that's gonna happen, Joe? Despite his initial reaction, however, verse 11 tells us Jacob kept the matter in mind. Succinctly put, Jacob knew God when he saw Him. He may not have liked it, but he accepted the possibility.

When we examine the events surrounding the advent of Jesus, the Messiah, who could imagine this was the birth of a King, the King of all kings? Who could imagine God Himself would pick Bethlehem, of all places, to arrive? Who could imagine He would be born to a young woman, engaged and claiming to have conceived by the Holy Spirit? Who could imagine the first people designated to herald God's presence on earth would be filthy shepherds? Who could imagine a Redeemer, helpless, wrapped in rags, and lying in a manger?

I hope you can. I hope you have known God long enough, have walked with Him closely enough, or simply, have decided to trust His character enough, that you know Him when you see Him. I hope you are seeking to understand what Scripture reveals about His nature and His work, that you might believe even in the impossible. I hope you have determined to believe what God says, that you might understand the events and the things of God when you see them. I hope that knowing Him is the only reward you seek.