Christmas Devotional 13: Faith is Clinging to God Always
Matthew 2:12-16; Isaiah 41:10
Cancer can bring turmoil and intense emotions for both patients and caregivers. As a matter of fact, due to cancer, people can experience more intense feelings than they ever have before. Are you a pretty calm person that in the world of cancer finds yourself frustrated and snapping at loved ones? Has cancer found you more concerned about the future or finances than you ever have been before? Are you finding that moods you could usually shake off are fiercely clinging to you, making it much harder to smile?
A common reaction to these new intense emotions is a fear of being overwhelmed by them. “I’ve never had to cope with emotions this strong; I don’t think I could handle anything more. No more changes in my treatment plan, no more people avoiding me and no more bad news.” So, our minds find sneaky ways of avoiding even the possibility of more struggles. You don’t consciously decide to avoid things, your mind just leads you to avoid things. You have a physical symptom you should mention to your doctor, but by the time you see him again, you’re not even thinking about that problem any more.
You stop seeking out friends; that way, you don’t have to deal with the hurt of them avoiding you. 51 You share with your spouse/caregiver less conversation, fewer words of encouragement and very infrequent touches to lower the risk of anything setting off a disagreement.
Remember, these are not decisions you have made. These are just patterns of avoidance your mind leads you down to lower the risk of feeling any more overwhelming emotions.
Do you know that the traditional, picture-perfect Christmas story has done the very same thing? There is so much joy and wonder in the story, but a real power of the Christmas story comes from knowing that these regular peoplelike you and me- also endured great heartbreak as part of God’s plan.
Read the verses below.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they (the wisemen) returned to their country by another route. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Matthew 2:12-16
Using the verse above, answer the questions below:
1. Why did God send the wise men a dream? Vs 12 ____________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
2. God sent Joseph a dream and said to go where? ____________________ _________________________________________________________________
3. Herod thinks it was just the wise men that outwitted him. Do you think God outwitted Herod, too? Why?
4. What did Herod send his soldiers to do? vs 16 ______________________ _________________________________________________________________
For me, this is one of the darkest stories in the Bible. A madman killing innocent children? Horrible. I cannot imagine how overwhelmed the families and even the whole community of Bethlehem must have been from this insanity. This is one dark story we’re easily tempted to avoid. But, if we do, we’ll miss the full picture of our faith in God.
Consider this. Bethlehem was a small town of shepherds. It seems to me there was probably some overlap between the community of shepherds that were on the hills of Bethlehem when the angels sang the good news, and the families who lost their babies to Herod’s madness. Seeing this overlap powerfully changes the Christmas story for me. To think that the community of shepherds who witnessed and ecstatically shared the good news of the Christ child might have also experienced one of the darkest episodes in the Bible makes these people all too real.
Faith is clinging to God always- in the darkest dark and the brightest light.
Here’s how this fits with your cancer. You’re right. There are a lot of things about cancer that can be overwhelming. You need something more that your own strength to overcome all that cancer can throw at you.
You need something to stomp down the fear, wipe away the confusion, fill you with unimaginable strength, help you with each and every step and above all hold you up through it all.
Read the verse below.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
Circle the word “not” each time it appears in the verse above. Write here what you are not to do:
1. _______________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
Circle the words “I will” each time they appear above. Write here what God will do:
1. _______________________________________________________________ 2._______________________________________________________________ 3._______________________________________________________________
Whose God does He say He is? “…for I am __________________________ ____________________________________________________________ God.”
I think this is why you hear so many cancer survivors say, “I don’t know how anyone makes it through cancer without Jesus.” He is YOUR God. He is holding you up through it all. Do not be overwhelmed. Do not be dismayed. Do not fear.
Lord, I ask You to show us with great clarity all of the times in our lives You have held us up. Each time You were there in our joy and in our struggle. Each time You prevented us from being overwhelmed and filled us with hope. We ask You to bless us again through both this cancer journey and this Christmas season, so we may do more than endure, we may CELEBRATE! Amen