Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?
Using the Advent Devo
The Advent Devo walks through the narrative of Jesus’ birth. It begins in the Garden with God’s promise of a Savior and ends with an eager anticipation of Jesus’ promised return. In the middle, God shows His unmistakable faithfulness in sending the promised Rescuer. We see His love for the lowly and outcast as He proclaims the news of His Son to the shepherds. We marvel at His heart to see all nations come and worship His Son through the Magi’s journey.
Even if you know the Advent narrative well, don’t rush past what God has for you in this season. For many, this may be the first time to consider all that God is saying through the birth of His Son. For others, it will be an opportunity to rediscover the way God intimately works in the details of life for His glory and the good of man. For all of us, may this season be one marked by hope, expectation, remembrance, and worship. The King has come and is coming! There is much to celebrate.
Call to Prayer
“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (Ps. 130:5)
Scripture Reading
Readings: Exodus 12-14 + Psalm 80:1-3, 17-19
Read the passages above.
Then spend a moment in quiet stillness before God.
(Click on the link to read each of the passages, or turn there in your Bible)
Dwelling
Consider the way God used Moses to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt (Ex. 12–14). Was there any way for the Israelites to escape their slavery apart from God’s provision and power? How is sin an even harsher, more oppressive master than Pharaoh? What is our only hope of deliverance?
Think about Israel’s long wait for the promised Savior to come. How do you think God’s people fought against doubt, discouragement, and the temptation to believe God forgot them?
God often gives us seasons of waiting to sift and strengthen our faith. If you are in a season of waiting, what might the Lord be teaching you?
God reveals many things about His nature and character through the birth of His Son. What attributes of God do you see in this part of the Advent narrative?
Prayer
Everlasting God, it’s Advent once again. We’ve eagerly waited for change, but it appears little has happened. Expand in me the great hope that one day I will be raised from this broken earth—changed in the blink of an eye—and that everything bent and bruised, curdled and corrupted, in me and this world, will be transformed into lasting goodness, righteousness, and truth. In Jesus’ name, amen. (prayer based on the Belgic Confession, Question 37).
*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year
Wonder
Advent begins in the dark. Literally. It is the darkest time of the year. Advent, which begins our church calendar, begins facing this darkness. Advent comes to us as a gift of darkness, emptiness, and says – will you enter this period of waiting with me?
Will you pause to remember and recognize your own emptiness and darkness – and practice longing for the light? These works of art invite us to enter into the wonder and waiting for the Light of the World to dawn on Christmas morn.
MUSIC
(if accessing via email, CLICK these links: Advent Playlist 1 + Advent Playlist 2)
Benediction
May the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven, shine on those living in darkness and guide our feet into the path of peace. (see Luke 1:78-79)