This Little Light: An Advent DevotionalSample

Verse: This little light of mine

Theme: Hope

Abraham looked up and saw all the lights in the sky. Each one, he was told, represented a promised descendent. Each of them known by name. He remembered looking into that same night sky long ago, hoping against hope. He desperately tried again to pull into the present a promise of a future that was way bigger than he could ever have thought or imagined. He stood there counting the stars again as Isaac rustled and stacked the wood for the fire. He asked again, “Father, where will we find a lamb up here?” Abraham gazed down to the ground, reminded again of what the Lord had asked of him, and said solemnly “the Lord will provide, my son.”

I imagine what it must have looked like from far away as Abraham’s servants waited for their master and his son to return. He and Isaac had been gone a long time. Their part to play was one of waiting in the dark as Abraham and Isaac worship on the mountain. At some point, early in the evening, they saw a flicker atop Mt. Moriah. The sacrificial fire on which they would burn their offering. They must have been relieved to know that soon tier master would return. But on the mountain, it was a different scene. For the servants, it was their duty that held them here. For their master, a hope unswerving kept him steady even as his heart and mind questioned. 

Do you find yourself in a place where hope is hard to imagine? Where real concerns about our health, jobs, families, and livelihood plague our every thought. In isolation, we go to places we never intended to go. In desperation, we do things we never thought we would. But, in a world wrought with fear and anxiety, we have a choice. Hope against hope, or succumb to them. 

In this season of Advent, let the words of Abraham remind us of our one true hope. While we wait, hoping against hope, we celebrate the Lord's coming. Look up, count the stars who are known, each and every one by name. One of them is you, a light brightly shining, signaling the hope of a future glory. Of a savior who has come and is coming again.

Poking A Hole in the Veil: The long winter nights are among us. Some of the longest nights of the year are during the winter season. I invite you to step outside, look up. Imagine yourself in Abraham’s shoes standing and looking up at your promises. Do they seem far off, a glimmer light years away? Or, have you experienced the fulfillment of any of the things you’ve hoped for? Maybe you have, or maybe you’re still waiting. If so, I invite you to hope against hope. To receive the promise, even if it feels like it’s on the sacrificial fire. Even if circumstances seem stacked against you. Meditate on this definition of hope from my friend Scott Volk 

HOPE: (v) being fully assured that God always has a solution for your situation and that He will show up at the perfect time to transform your impossibilities into a testimony of His salvation.