Unless I Had Believed...

Christmas just came and went, seemingly so quickly! I hope you had a great Christmas with family and friends! Mine was wonderful.

It's comical to me how after Christmas Day is over, people are immediately counting down the days until Christmas of the next year. Speaking of, as of now we have about 362 days and 14 hours until next Christmas.

I wonder why? Maybe it's because Christmas is a time of hope, of celebration, of believing. And quite honestly, our world continues to throw at us reasons not to hope, not to celebrate, not to believe.

I can't help but wonder what the people of God were thinking and feeling before Jesus, the Messiah, their long-awaited Savior, came into the world. For centuries they waited. Centuries! Did they still have hope? Did they find anything to celebrate? Did they still believe the Messiah would still come one day?

I'll be honest, I have a hard time holding onto hope and continuing to believe God will answer a prayer or fulfill His promises after only a few short weeks. I can't imagine being one of the people waiting for the Messiah for years upon years upon years! I'm afraid I would have given up all hope & just started believing that God had forgotten me or was punishing me by leaving me in my miserable state.

The reality is that we're going to believe something. The question is, what do you believe in times that seem hopeless, when you see absolutely nothing good happening, when the world tempts you to quit believing in goodness, to quit believing in God? Do you believe God's promises, or do you believe that nagging voice that speaks against everything Scripture and faith say are true?

One of my favorite Scriptures that I cling to in hard times is Psalm 27:13-14:
"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD." (NASB)

I can't imagine where I'd be without Jesus in my life and without God's words of truth to give me hope and help me keep believing. And I can't imagine what I'd do without friends who help me keep hoping and believing. These are entirely gifts of God's grace for which I am eternally grateful, and they're available to us all.

Worthy of All Praise

What speaks to you of God's greatness and majesty?
As for me, it's nature. And particularly the sky.
It's also Christian music.
Mix them together and I'm in Heaven. :)

One of my new favorite songs is one that's actually been around awhile but has been re-recorded in a new edition:
"How Great is Our God (World Edition)" by Chris Tomlin

Not only does it have the original words in English, it also includes these other languages: Hindi, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Zulu, Africaans, and Mandarin.

Listening to this song, I can't help but think of these words of Revelation in the Bible which talk about the end of time when people from every nation and tribe will worship God:

"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, 'Salvation comes from our God on the throne and from the Lamb!' And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell face down before the throne and worshiped God. They said, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and forever. Amen!'" Revelation 7:9-12

God just leaves me speechless sometimes. This is one of those times. There's no limit to His greatness and even our best words of praise and thanksgiving to Him can't begin to express this. I love Him so much!

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God