Based on “How Jesus’ Birth Changed Everything, Part 2” by Pastor Mark Balmer;
12/11-12/10, Message #MB442; Daily Devotional #2 - “Tidings of Comfort and Joy”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) When I set out for my walk early Saturday morning, I discovered a thick fog had settled over the area. I enjoyed the peaceful stillness of walking in that damp vapor and the way the cloud cover protected my eyes from the bright sunrise glare. The headlights of approaching traffic took on an ethereal quality that made it hard to tell their distance and speed. I enjoyed every bit of a delightful walk in that foggy atmosphere.
I was reminded of another kind of fog that I love to walk in. This F.O.G (Favor of God) settled upon my life the day that I invited Jesus to be my Savior and Lord many years ago. It brings me peace no matter what circumstance I am walking through, and protects me from the glare of life’s harshest moments. After many decades of walking in this F.O.G., I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to share in the same benefits for their life.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): Still, we often struggle with the questions that arise when someone who loves God and is walking in His favor endures trials and hardships of amazing intensity. How could such things happen when under the cover of that F.O.G.? Was that person really in sin and not in God’s favor at all? Doesn’t God care when we come against adversity? It doesn’t take too much searching in the Scriptures to discover, however, that walking in the F.O.G. doesn’t bring protection from the trials that living in this infected world can often bring. The Christmas story itself is full of examples of this fact. The angel told Mary that she was “highly favored” (Luke 1:28), but that favor didn’t keep her from suspicion, ridicule, and eventually a lonely delivery of her first child in the humblest of conditions, along with a hasty departure to a foreign land with no indication when she would be able to return to her home town. At the baptism of Jesus a voice from heaven stated. “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22), but throughout His life He met temptation, opposition, accusation, treachery, anger, and eventually death on a cross at the hands of evil men.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): You may be asking yourself, exactly what good is walking in the F.O.G. if it doesn’t protect us from life’s miseries? Or maybe you have struggled with doubting God’s love because of the things that have happened to you. Your thoughts might go something like this: “If I was really in God’s favor, I would never have lost that job, gotten this infirmity, come against this problem, etc.” It is as if the very fact that you are having problems proves that God has deserted you. The tidings of comfort and joy of the Christmas season are because God sent Jesus to be our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace so that He might help us overcome all the trials this life throws in our way. We can have forgiveness, healing of broken hearts, seeing eyes, freedom from oppression, and assurance that God is with us, in us, and for us in all areas of our lives. That is the great blessing of walking in the F.O.G.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): I Peter 4:12-13
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Calvary Chapel of Melbourne; 2955 Minton Road; W. Melbourne, FL 32904; 321-952-9673
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.