Who knew lime green tee shirts could so beautifully portray God's power and faithfulness?!
You see, the time I'm thinking about wasn't this particular chilly December night in Chapel Hill. No, this picture brought to mind another evening: a sticky, steaming evening in August two years earlier....in an ICU...with Janie unconscious while we waited and prayed. Prayed and waited. We prayed that God in His mercy and grace would allow her to wake up and return to us. Yet we also waited with surrendered hearts, trying our best to trust that God's plans--whatever they might be--were always ultimately best.
But on one particularly difficult evening, when Janie's temperature was spiking, her lungs were struggling, and hope seemed a million miles away, we received an email from one of my husband's closest friends, David Dwight. David's a minister in Richmond, and the Lord knew that evening was just the right time for his email to arrive. The words were a strength-infusion. A God-inspired invitation to shift our focus from the beeping monitors and onto the mighty King. To stop dwelling on what we could see and instead to fix our eyes on our glorious Savior. To recall it's not about obsessing over our circumstances but about knowing Who's in control.
I've quoted David's words from that email before, but they bear repeating...because in the trenches of life, don't we need reminding? When sickness strikes or sorrow overwhelms or worry crushes, we tend to forget what is truly true and rock-solid real. So in case you need some starch in your soul and some hope in your heart, here's the gist of his words.
David had asked a Biblical Languages scholar about the oh-so-familiar words of Luke 2 (and by the way, don't let the familiarity of these words strip them of their astounding wonder and glory!): "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests." (Lk 2:8-14)
The Biblical languages scholar explained, "In v.13, it says 'the heavenly host' appeared with the angel, praising God...This translation is far too mild. The word that the translators have called 'host' in English is unequivocally the word, 'army' in Greek. The word is 'stratia,' and it is always and everywhere translated 'army.'
In this regard, the Bible is saying that at the birth of Jesus, the sky was filled with a heavenly army--and what they said to the shepherds was something that feels much more like 'Glory to God, this is war, but don't be afraid.' It is more fitting to the reality that Jesus was born to win the ultimate battle, and the capstone of that victory is the resurrection. The heavenly army said to the shepherds in essence, 'You needn't be afraid. God does the battling and will win the big war. You trust and walk with this Savior-Warrior-Baby, and be at peace that the Lord's armies are doing the battling and that the victory will be won. That's why you can rejoice--the victory will be won."
YES!
Not just a helpless babe. Not just a silent night. Not just Mary, meek and mild. But a Savior-Warrior-Baby come to earth to battle for you, for me. To win the victory against sin and death. To crush the enemy beneath His nail-scarred feet so that we need never fear the very worst this world and the devil can throw at us. They are defeated foes, and the Savior-Warrior-Baby has not only secured the ultimate and complete victory, but He will carry us triumphant with Him all the way to heaven. We may lose a skirmish or two along the way, but "God does the battling and will win the big war."
I don't know what you might be going through right now--perhaps a hard, frightening path, perhaps a difficult disease, perhaps a painful relational struggle--but I pray these words will remind you that because Jesus came, in Him you will ultimately conquer.
It's not a matter of us being strong...it's all about Him as our perfectly strong Savior. He's already won the victory, and He's gives us grace, day by day, to walk by and with and for Him. And so "you trust and walk with this Savior-Warrior-Baby and be at peace that the Lord's armies are doing the battling." Walking and trusting by faith, rejoicing by grace, that "the victory will be won."
Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, just keep walking by grace through faith...He'll win the battle. Always and forever.
To God be the glory.
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