The First Day of Advent

Sunday, December 1, 2019

The Wonder of What God Has Done Through His Son:

An Advent Devotional Guide

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4

This verse is the one that Martin Luther said “pierced his heart.” Habakkuk was a contemporary of Daniel; both were prophets in the time of the Jewish exile in Babylonia. It was a long, long exile. They had no place to worship, no rabbis, no temple, no family with whom to worship, and yet even in despair they did not give up what they knew to be true: Almighty God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was their God and they would worship no other.

This little short book, only three chapters, tells much about God. It won’t take you but a few minutes to read it, but if you spend an hour or so, you’ll be surprised at what you learn about God from the conversation that he and Habakkuk have!

God is always there, listening as we cry to him. He has a plan, and he moves patiently to execute it. He uses the most unusual people to accomplish what he wants. He does not tolerate idolatry. He has no patience with those who use their circumstances for gain at the expense of others. He’ll let us get a glimpse of his majesty if we earnestly seek him. He gives strength to those who allow him free reign in their lives. It’s all there in beautiful poetry.

And so as we move into this holy season of the Church year, we move in faith, aware that our Holy God has plans for us and that our Christian education is a life-long learning. We may not understand all that we see, hear or read. But we can understand our great God and can in faith entrust not just our Christmas season but our lives to him daily!

Father, please remove our misconceptions about you and give our faith a freshness as we know you better during this holy season! Amen

The Wonder of What God Has Done Through His Son:

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Winter 2009
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator