DEVOTIONAL 52: WHAT DID YOUR FATHER GIVE YOU FOR CHRISTMAS?
Because He is a good Father, all of His gifts are good, starting with the amazing, life-changing gift of our salvation. In this season when we are so aware of earthly gifts, I want to pause for a moment to think about one of the many gifts our Father blesses us with and wants us to receive fully. I have mentioned this next gift I love before, but I have saved this one last thing of what He has revealed to me for us to unwrap at Christmas—about the gift of The Wide Place. This gift will bring you the comfort and joy that the hymns and carols speak of. It will bring you relief from stress that most of us so badly need, especially at this time of year. The Wide Place offers you a large and roomy space to run freely in Him, a spot in your journey where your feet won’t stumble, and liberty like you have never known.
What does The Wide Place have to do with Christmas? Psalm 18:19 speaks of our salvation as a rescue; “He brought me into a spacious place, he rescued me because he delighted in me.”
The story of Christ’s coming is the story of the greatest rescue mission the world has ever known. Popular movies show rescue missions for a few or maybe scores of people, but Christ’s mission to come to earth to rescue you and me extends to millions of people throughout many centuries. According to Psalm 18:19, The Wide Place is a spacious place where God brings us for rest and restoration. Are you needing that right now?
At the beginning of the story in Matthew 1:20-21, we find Joseph, who has just learned that Mary, his betrothed, is with child. The troubling and undoubtedly heartbreaking issue is that they have never been together intimately. Joseph determines to end the relationship quietly, but God has a different plan. An angel appears to Joseph and says:
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
This root word for Jesus in this passage is “yasha,” meaning “God will save,” according to Dr. John E. Hartley in his Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Vol 1, pp. 414-15. But this word can also mean “to make wide.”
So Jesus came to save and to give us a wide and roomy path through His sacrifice, because He knew we could not walk this path of life unless He did the hard work for us. Without Him, we would stumble and never get up. He knew when He came to earth as a baby that He was coming to rescue us from our sins. But He also intended to continue to walk with us and make a Wide Place for us through His love and mercy.
Proverbs 4:12 says He even places our feet on a path, and it is a path that will aid us in not stumbling:
When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.
According to the ASV version of Psalm 18:36, the Lord will actually enlarge the path under your feet to keep you from stumbling:
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped.
The fact that Jesus was coming to place us in The Wide Place was announced centuries before in Isaiah 61:1:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
This verse again tells us that God does not just save us as a one-time “experience.” He walks beside us for the rest of our lives, binding up our broken hearts and freeing us from whatever is holding us captive. My favorite part of this verse is Jesus’ mission “to proclaim liberty to the captives.” My sin can sometimes hold me captive until I release whatever thoughts or hurts or outlooks to Him. What has held your heart captive lately that Jesus can deliver you from?
If you haven’t had a Christmas get-together with the Lord this season, now may be a good time. Thank Him for the gift of your salvation, but thank Him that He continues to guide your feet and will walk with you in The Wide Place until we see Him face-to-face.
Ask the Lord to take you into the new year with your heart firmly planted in Him and, no matter your circumstances, your feet set down in The Wide Place. Enter the new year with a grateful heart and a reliance on Him to guide your every step.