Comfort and Joy

Dear Friends,

I know I am not alone in my love of the Christmas season.  Are you out there fellow Christmas lovers?  Oh, hello!  There are a lot of you!  It’s finally our season.  Or more accurately, it is our Savior’s season. I know you agree that there are so many things that we associate with this time of year…sights, sounds, smells, and emotions.  We become consumed by our own traditional decorations, the greeting cards, the TV shows and movies, the music, the cookies, the peppermint candles. AND there’s the wonder, the hope, and the anticipation. This year I’ve been especially struck by the comfort and the joy! 

Every day during my quiet time during this advent season, I’ve been reading selections from scripture compiled on the Focus on the Family website.  If you are interested in viewing this Advent reading, please click here. It has been interesting to trace a connection and a contextual importance to the story of Christmas as well as finding the application that is needed in my life. 

On day one I read Isaiah 40:1-5.  With further commentary research, I found that Isaiah’s purpose was to call his generation to holiness and obedience.  I addition he shared the message of comfort and assurance to future generations. When Isaiah was speaking this message, it was exceedingly relevant. Some of the kingdom had fallen into the enemy’s hands and another portion was under serious attack. It was a difficult time to worship for Israel, yet Isaiah addressed his people with tenderness and gentleness. They had been through many trials and would see more trials as a divided nation. Isaiah emphasized the ultimate comfort: the coming of the Messiah and redemption. 

I wrote down the word “comfort” as the theme for this passage.  

The second day’s reading was Isaiah 52:7-10. Isaiah exclaimed that it was a privilege to share the good news that the LORD was returning to Zion. He explains that they could have joy because the LORD had comforted and redeemed His people.  There was an unmistakable energy to this passage of Scripture, and it would be hard to miss the message bursting from these verses. 

I wrote down the word “joy” as the theme for this passage. 

During this season we sing of “tidings of comfort and joy” and these passages have renewed my mind as to what that means today. The message to us in this age is not so very different as it was when Isaiah’s message was received. We are living in a time when obedience to God is unpopular. Like the remnant of Jerusalem that Isaiah was addressing, we have been found as a faithful remnant in a world of corruption. We have been redeemed from this corrupted world by God’s grace alone. And because we know this truth, it is our privilege to proclaim the good news: the tidings of comfort (that we’ve been redeemed) and joy (that He will come again)! 

I hope you find comfort and joy this season! We have a lot to celebrate!  

In Him,

Grace