#16 – Emmanuel: The God Who Draws Close

In this special Christmas Eve episode, Dez and Mel invite listeners to slow down and connect with the spirit of the season. They reflect on the themes of light in darkness, the longing for fulfillment, and the personal significance of Emmanuel, God with us. Through scripture, personal stories, and prayer, they encourage listeners to embrace God's personal presence in their lives, especially during the holiday season.

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Transcript

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Welcome Roadback Podcast listeners. Merry Christmas Eve from Mel and I. Merry Christmas Eve. We're so glad to be with you today. And our heart for this special time is to slow down and to connect to each other and to God a little bit more in the season. And so this episode may sound a little bit different. It may flow a little different. I'm just going to invite you to take some time this morning or today, whenever you're listening to this and just settle in. Feel free to light a candle, grab a cup of your favorite drink. Our heart with this episode is to create a slightly more devotional feel and a moment to drop in and feel present. So thank you for being here. I'm going to begin by reading a passage of scripture from the prophet Isaiah. It's a well-known passage for Christmas and the coming of Jesus. It's from Isaiah 9. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. Amen. This Advent season, this period of time leading up to Christmas, I am reminded in the waiting that others have longed and waited before me. In all the places of my life and all the places of your life that didn't turn out the way we thought, that are still not wrapped up and cleaned up that are still messy. In the places where there's pain and where there's grief and the places where there's confusion and you're waiting to understand and you cry out for more. I just want you to understand that your need, your pain, the messiness of life, of your situation does not disqualify you from the love you desire, the presence you desire. In fact, this season, the birth of Christ is the fulfillment of all of our longings, of all of our needs, of all of our hope deferred. Mm. My personal favorite Christmas carol is a carol of longing. It's, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. And I can just really feel the heart of not only the author of the song, but really the heart of Israel, the heart of mankind in a lot of ways. But Israel waited and longed and prayed and groaned and moaned and waited for the coming of a Messiah, the coming of the fulfillment of what they needed and desired most. And in all the places you might access that part of you right now in this season of the grief, of the longing, I just want you to know that that's the very thing that I believe that God is drawn to that propels him towards us. You're not disqualified because of your humanity and because of the mess that can sometimes be life. Hmm. actually qualifies you for the grace, for the goodness of God, for the presence to come near to that need. And so if you find yourself, similar to me, just really connected to those parts of your story in this time of the year; today, right now, I want to encourage you, even as I'm reading this stanza, this verse from song,– and even leading you into the refrain – is how can we notice that there's space for both the longing and the fulfillment of that longing to exist a little bit more in our lives and our consciousness, in what we see and do and how we experience God. Hmm. So I'm going to read these words and just maybe you can feel your own heart. You can hear your own cry inside of it. O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lowly exile here until the son of God appear. And then right away, the refrain exhorts us all, rejoice. We can rejoice. Emmanuel has come. Wow. I want to read an excerpt of Max Lucado's God Came Near. And I think it's a beautiful picture of who God is and what he's done. It all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment. God came near. He came not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. The hands that held him were not manicured, but calloused and dirty. No silk, no ivory, no hype, no party. No hoopla. God had come near for you. Mm. Max has a way with words. He's just got such a beautiful tenderness and connection, I believe, to the heart of God. I want to share a short story from my own life about what Emmanuel means. A number of years ago, I was in a ministry school and we were doing an assignment on the names of God. Part of the assignment was to write out prayers around the different names of God. So perhaps Jehovah Jireh or Yahweh or different aspects of God's nature and the names that he had revealed himself as. When I got to Emmanuel, I had this moment that was brief, but that has marked me ever since. I was writing out Emmanuel, Emmanuel means God with us. And I'm writing this prayer out and I'm saying, thank you God for being God with us. Thank you for this, thank you for that. And I just remember these words suddenly bubbled up inside of me. And I remember writing on the page, thank you for being God with me. And I had this moment of insight where when I had referred to God or Emmanuel as God with us, there was this beautiful collective sense of God had come to humanity. Like you said, Dez, O come, O come, Emmanuel. He came to Israel. He came to humanity. But in that moment, when those words came up, I truly believe it felt like an inspired moment where I was seeing God didn't just come for everyone out there, God came for me. Thank you for being God with me. And if you're listening right now and you're in a place where you can do so, I'd ask you to put your hand on your heart. And if you're able to close your eyes and just turn your attention inward for a moment, I wonder if there is an area of your life, maybe a place of pain or tenderness, maybe a place of beauty, maybe a place of challenge, but where do you feel the longing to see God with me? Your own personal Emmanuel. I wonder if there's a situation that's coming to mind. What would it feel like to let God come close, to let Emmanuel, Jesus, the one who took on flesh, who became fully human so that he could experience life through our eyes. What would it feel like to invite him to come close? Into those places of tenderness, into those places where maybe you felt alone. I bless your heart to feel the closeness of Jesus in this season. That you would have your own personal awakening to Emmanuel. To the word made flesh who dwelt among us. To the one who loves you so deeply that he gave himself as a sacrifice for your redemption. Hmm. feel like to let him come close? Papa, thank you that you are God with me. Papa, thank you that you are Mel. Thank you that you are God with each and every soul that is listening. And inside this invitation for the longing to meet the fulfillment, for God to come near, to be present. I just want to invite you just to feel into the belief that your humanity and everything you've experienced in this life, whatever's happening in the right now of your life, doesn't need to be fixed, doesn't need to be resolved. Doesn't need to be buttoned up and tidied up. You're allowed to believe that it's these very things that draws Papa's heart towards you. Lovingly, he sent his son and so willingly, he comes close. Maybe take a moment to notice what that belief feels like inside of you. Maybe even as you notice that Emmanuel can come near even in the midst of all those things right where you're at. In the right now. And his heart it's to love you, wholly, into wholeness, into shalom, into the connection, into... the fulfillment of all that you need. I bless you friends to believe and take on the truth that you are truly and wholly loved as you are right now. And that there's nothing that can separate you from the presence of Emmanuel. I bless you with a very Merry Christmas and thank you for spending this time with us together. Merry Christmas, friends.