In the abstract world in which I live, this empty 6 foot tall “box” sits in my front yard. Spontaneously and accidentally the box is empty. What is it and what does it mean? Well, it is the stable, if you will, of the nativity set that moved here from Missouri with my parents this year. They simply do not have a front yard anymore, so it was going to be displayed at our house each Christmas from now on. But, why is it empty?
Well, when you move everything you own for the first time in 50 years, some things tend to get left behind. So the stable, the supports and the trees all made it to Kansas, but the Wise Men, the Shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus did not make the trip. So after spending all afternoon setting up the manager, we began the search for the Christ child and the remainder of the nativity to no avail. Our search turned up nothing, and we eventually found out they are all still in Missouri. Thus, the empty stable in our front yard.
It made me laugh initially and continue to smile as I pulled in the driveway for a few days wondering what our neighbors are thinking about our empty box. Then we told the kids their new job was to sit out in it every night with donkey ears on the dog and a baby doll for Jesus and make it a live nativity. Really, they said, every night?
Now that its been there for a week empty, I began to think about a deeper meaning. What if the manger had been empty? What if we searched for the Christ child and he was never to be found? What if God’s son hadn’t been sent to earth? What would that look like and what could it mean for us all?
HOPE. If Jesus hadn’t come to earth then there would be no hope. He was prophesied for hundreds of years. He was the chosen one, the Messiah. The one to save his people and all mankind. What would that mean if God had promised to send him and then didn’t? He came so that we could have HOPE. Hope for eternal life. Hope for healing. Hope for salvation. Hope for a child of our own. Hope for a new job. Hope for a loving spouse. HOPE for healing. HOPE.
If there was no hope, there would be no light. Hope is the penetrating light into this dark world that changed everything. Read John Ortberg’s book entitled “Who is this Man?” if you want to understand more fully how HOPE transformed the world. It transforms it still. Hope resurrected my ability to heal physically. Without HOPE you cannot begin to truly heal.
FAITHFULNESS. God is faithful. How do we know this? Because of the prophesy, because of the birth of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ. God said he would come and he did. God keeps his promises. His word is true. He can be trusted. In fact in the book of Revelation, when Jesus comes back to set up his kingdom here on earth, it says his name is “Faithful and True”. (Revelation 19:11)
LOVE. God is love. Because he loved us so much, he sent his one and only son to earth to become man to die for our sins. There is no greater love than the sacrifice of your most beloved child. Jesus even says it is the greatest commandment, to love one another. (1 Corinth 13:13, Matthew 22:36-40). Without God sending Jesus there is no proof of his love for us. Yes we are his creation, but without Christ how would we know of his LOVE? We have the action of God in sending Jesus and we have Christ word’s himself talking about LOVE.
Emptiness does not have to mean sadness or disappointment or disgrace. Emptiness can be a hopeful expectation. Christmas is the season of miracles. Christmas is all about a hopeful expectation. That stable was empty of HOPE until Mary and Joseph rode into town obediently to register for the census. God used a census to fill a stable with HOPE for the world. God used a tyrannical murdering dictator to bring HOPE to the emptiness of his people. The empty stable was filled with HOPE when Jesus came. The empty tomb is the FAITHFUL promise fulfilled upon Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. From empty to empty, God’s LOVE fills it, completes it and tells the whole story.
What are you waiting for this Christmas? Are you waiting in hopeful expectation? Are you expecting steadfast faithfulness? Is there light in your emptiness? Do you believe that God can use something awful, terrifying and treacherous in your life to bring about HOPE?
We have experienced seasons of expectations without much HOPE and they are dark and foreboding. The longer you have been waiting the darker it can feel. The less you feel his LOVE. But it shouldn’t. His light is even more penetrating to the darkness. (Psalm 139:7-12) You question his promises and his faithfulness because you do not receive what you ask. But that doesn’t mean HOPE is not alive. It does not mean that LOVE is absent. It does not mean that his word isn’t TRUE.
Remember, your circumstances or illness or divorce or loss are of a broken world. God did not create brokenness, but he allowed us to choose it (Adam and Eve). God give HOPE, FAITH and LOVE despite the brokenness and to help overcome and survive the brokenness.
To truly overcome, you must let the light of His HOPE shine into your darkness. He will do the rest. Its not your job to prove how trustworthy he is. God will prove his faithfulness. God will show you his love. God will rain down HOPE upon you if you just open the door. Give him your expectations. Ask him for miracles this season.
Let HOPE in.
Blessings and healing,
Janice Fairbairn – The Lyme Evangelist
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