“Let every heart prepare Him room” – this one line from the carol ‘Joy to the World’ has been resounding in my heart and mind over and over and over these last few weeks, with the line from the sweet song in the second ‘Angela’s Christmas’ movie, “Make a place in your heart for me*” mixed right in. Even before these two lines became my sound track I had had a sense that God was saying to not get caught up in the busyness of what we have made Christmas to be, but to make it about what it is really about: Jesus.
I’m writing this at 1am from my bed as I woke and sickness seemed to once again be threatening to come and scupper our ‘plans’. Before I came to bed last night I was thinking about my Christmas shopping plans for the morning (as all the girls should be at school/nursery in the morning), but as I cleaned my teeth I stood surrendering all to the Lord and asking that He would direct my steps. There is so much ‘threat’ at the moment, with covid rife at school and the new variant spreading so rapidly – plus all the usual coughs/colds/flu – that I’ve been holding any plans lightly anyway, knowing that external factors may affect them, yet when I woke in the night a number of things came to my mind…
Yesterday I literally glimpsed only the first line of an email I’d been sent (I’d opened up the email but didn’t have time to read it, just happened to catch the first line) and it talked of the world “heading towards its final destiny with God”. The shakings that are going on are not going to stop. Whether it is new variant after new variant that will perplex scientists and show the world that we really aren’t in control, or whether it is natural disasters or other such things, there are quite a number of places in the Bible where God speaks of the shakings that are going to take place… here are two that came to mind:
Haggai 2:6-7 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.”
Hebrews 12:26-27 “At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.”
Friends, God wants our hearts. His desire is to dwell with us. He came as a baby all those years ago for that reason – to dwell with us and then to rescue us. Have you made room for Him in your heart? Will you let Him in? It’s the most beautiful thing to know Jesus and to have Him dwell with you – the Creator of all things, the One who has all the resources of the universe at His disposal, the compassionate, merciful, loving, tender Father – He and His Son and His Spirit making their home with you is the only real stability in these times. Even today you can turn and welcome Him. He will come.
In the midst of the busyness and pressures that come at this time of year we’re seeking to carve out space, to make time, to lay down our plans and even the perceived pressures, to focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas, because it really is so easy for the focus to be subtly off. It’s easy because we know the story & songs so well that we can sing them and hear them with out deeply connecting to them – yet believing that this year, this Christmas, it is to be different… that God is doing something new, moving in unexpected ways, and calling His people to be ready and to make room for Him to move. To REALLY make room for Him.
May the God of all peace help us and give us the grace to make room for Him this Christmas and throughout 2022. May He keep us through the shakings and draw us to His side, that we would shine bright in the midst of this dark world.
*I think the actual words in the movie may be ‘Leave a place in your heart for me’, and in context a little girl singing it to her Dad, it but it’s the line that has stuck in my head and I’ve been hearing it as from the Lord.
Pursuing Purpose 