Emmanuel - God with us.
I guess you probably expected me to post again on the 23rd and I did expect to post but someone needed me and I was the only person close enough to help her. So you would be right I had intended the three days leading up to christmas but well a friend in need is more important than anything on a computer- sorry but to me it is. I count my real friends not my face book friends. So I think this post will be posted Christmas eve and the third perhaps on boxing day.
God is with, in and for us. This year I heard a theologian speak these words at the beginning of this year in London. ( Or at least I think they were these words) because God seems to have a bad rap sheet. and he ( an american preacher with his own specifically nuanced theology) I even read the book to go with it. but whether or not you agree with him theologically on any points at all as a christian or a non christian the fact still remains that God is with us, Emmanuel the person of Christ Jesus if god is all powerful and all present then it would make sense to say he is around us. But being present is not the same as being with someone as any person who has ever felt the pang of unrequited love would tell you.
God being with us isn't just about him showing up but its about him wanting relationship with us. Regardless of whether or not you are a Christian God persues you ( not I might add in a stalkerish or weird way) he loves us each so much he wants us to know him and to speak to him about stuff. Someone I met recently said to me ' I am not like you Allie I haven't got God to talk to about the S that happens in my life' it jarred with me because the truth was he had. God was with him through it all, God still is desperately seeking to be in relationship with him as he has been every day since he was born.Thing is my friend he just can't see it- he doesn't notice.
I like to think about being in relationship with God is like going on a long walk with others cross country. I am a keen hiker and I love to be out - not in the rain mind- walking. The thing is when you go on these walks if you go with friends or family you talk along the way you build relationship. God is with us on our life walk, sometimes we are silent and listen to him ( like when we read his word or seek his face) sometimes he is silent and we talk and sometimes we are both silent. But in our culture its like many people are listening to their music or watching stuff on their phone as they walk through life and just don't notice him and he loves them way too much to like tap them on the shoulder and say ' hey I am walking with you.'. If you know anything about rambling or hiking you know that well its a sociable thing. how can you see the beauty that surrounds you if you are on your phone or whatever how can you enjoy it. How can you see the dangers. how can you know where you are going. So maybe it is a long winded slightly tenuous analogy but God walks with us whether we choose it or not and he is the one with the map and the compass!
God with us is a promise Emmanuel is spoken about because Jesus is alive now on the cusp of 2014 as much as he was in 6BC when Mary gave birth... and even before that. Moreover, God isn't with us just because he is in us, he was with us before we chose him. In my last post I spoke about the prophets this is what it says about God with us in the person of Jesus.
The propehcy
Isiaiah 9: And you shall call his name... Emmanuel god with us.
Zecariah 2:10-13
10 “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that theLord Almighty has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” (NIV)
This year I have really noticed the word Emmanuel, its really hit me God is with us. not just in the birth and person of jesus although that is important but god is with us its not just about the fact that God is in us because God is with us he chose to make us ( this' us' means those who have chosen to be his children) living vessels of his presence. Where I go God goes not just because he is in me' Christ in me the hope of Glory...' ' you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.'. but because he is with me. I have often when re living and remembering difficult moment in my life imagined Jesus in the memory. Having my friend there with me makes it less horrible helps the healing because he was there in the good moments and the bad.
Its kind of crazy if you think about it that the God who made the universe " he made the stars also" kind of God that each star in space was worth noting down as an aside in the creation narrative he breathed would want to share each of our tiny and momentary existences with us is kind of breath-taking. God who spoke and there was life would want to speak to us, walk with us, is remarkable really. God with us, Emmanuel, is kind of breathtaking.
God is not with me just when I lay hands on the sick and pray in Jesus name that they be well or when I speak a word of truth over someone. he is with me when I'm in the shower or stocking shelves at the shop where I work. God is with me always. Its my choice whether I include him in what I do or not.
Perhaps there is one question on your lips why? why is God with us? I have prayed about it and of course there are many reasons but I think its because he wants to be with us, he wants to be in us and he wants to be for us. That is quite shocking until you realise God is love and our god the name above all names is a relational God one who designed us in Eden to ' walk with him in the cool of the day'
May you know God with you today and always
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