This Christmas Don’t Give Up, Look UpSample

Your Gentle Yet Powerful Savior

Did you know that thousands of years before you were born, God knew just what you needed?

God knew you’d need extra strength so you wouldn’t give up.

God knew you needed a Savior so big that the entire Milky Way couldn’t hold him.

God knew you needed a Savior so tender and caring that you’d turn to him during times of pain and suffering.

Centuries before Jesus’ birth, the prophet Isaiah announced that God would send his Son to Earth. That was 700 years before the very first Christmas.

He told us the Savior would be both powerful and personal—and he’d be strong enough to save us, but also tender and loving.

Most impressively, God tells us that Jesus would have a personal relationship with us.

It’s an amazing prediction.

God tells us this in Isaiah 40:

“Shout louder—don’t be afraid—tell the cities of Judah, ‘Your God is coming!’ Yes, the Lord God is coming with mighty power; he will rule with awesome strength... He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will carry the lambs in his arms and gently lead the ewes with young” (Isaiah 40:9-11 TLB).

Again, Isaiah didn’t predict just Jesus’ gentleness but also his enormous power.

“Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust” (Isaiah 40:15 HCSB).

Then Isaiah got personal, and he applied the coming of Jesus to our lives today.

“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. . . . Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:26, 28-29 NIV).

I don’t know what problems you’re facing this Christmas. I don’t know what burdens you’re bearing. I don’t know what grief, fear, anxiety, or confusion you may be feeling right now, but I do know this:

Your Creator is here for you—with the power of a tsunami and the gentleness of a baby, born in a manger over 2,000 years ago.

Talk it over

• Think of a problem you’ve faced in your life that required the power of God. How did that experience draw you closer to him?
• How has understanding the gentleness of God been important to you in times of trouble?
• How does it feel to realize that God knew your needs long before you were ever born and planned to send Jesus to meet them?