The virgin shall conceive
The Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. – From Isaiah 7
Two stories here, with the same message: we are not as strong as we think we are. But God IS.
The Christmas story is familiar to us all, but not so much the context of Isaiah’s words several centuries earlier.
Syria and Samaria band together (Assyria) to destroy the kingdom of Judah. King Ahaz and his people are frightened and weak at the knees. Isaiah comes with a message from Yahweh. You must have faith in your God. God has all of this in control. But “if you will not believe, surely you will not be established.”
And then in a biblically typical moment of near sarcasm which turns out to be genius wisdom, Isaiah says, “The Lord himself will give you a sign …” A baby named “God with us.” What do you think of that, O King?
Oh no, not again. God spins my head around and I understand nothing. A baby? No wonder the prophets got such heat from their kings. What Ahaz thinks he needs right now is a good army!
Centuries later the baby so clearly named Emmanuel comes again, but this time not to persuade a king. He comes for all of us. We all think we are stronger than we are, so God’s genius-almost-sarcastic gift to US is a baby. If God comes as a baby, then maybe I can see my own need to surrender and obey? Maybe the fruit of knowledge no longer tempts? And perhaps I see how sweet it is to know only my next step, and leave the rest to my father and mother?
But day after day, I find myself waiting till the last minute to trust God with my health, my money and especially my most precious relationships. I forget! I am so accustomed to control. And then at last, when I finally pray, God gives me a baby.
Isn’t that just like God?
This is often the way God loves us: with gifts we thought we didn’t need, which transform us into people we don’t necessarily want to be. With our advanced degrees, armies, government programs, material comforts and self-fulfillment techniques, we assume that religion is about giving a little of our power in order to confirm to ourselves that we are indeed as self-sufficient as we claim.
Then this stranger comes to us, blesses us with a gift, and calls us to see ourselves as we are – empty-handed recipients of a gracious God who, rather than leave us to our own devices, gave us a baby.
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Can I hold him in my arms?
And let him hold me?
Baby I am,
baby I will always be.
Lord, on this next-to-shortest day of the year, I am on my knees before you. Please shorten my arrogant times and lengthen my times of surrender and peace. Giving up power is not the same as never having it, but show me the way of giving up, the way of giving up that moves my spirit into the manger where I can worship you.
 William Willimon, “From a God We Hardly Knew,” Christian Century, Dec 21-28, 1988 issue. Included as entry for December 14, in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, 2001, Plough Publishing House
 http://www.davesandel.net/category/advent-and-christmas-devotions-2018/
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archive.php?year=2018
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