Angela's Advent Devotion for the Season

Angela's Advent Devotion: 

Zephaniah 3:14-15

“Sing…..shout aloud! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart!” 

 

To be honest, when I opened my email with my assigned Advent scripture, I was like who is Zephaniah?! But then I started to read. And I found out that he wrote his book about a pretty tough time in his country of Judah. There was a sense that the nation’s future hung in the balance and Zephaniah’s words could help. 

 

Okay, I can relate. I suspect we can all relate. We’ve gone through a pretty tough time lately here in our nation as well. The last presidency, the pandemic, now the pandemic part two…it’s unrelenting. And sometimes, I have a hard time seeing a way out of this tough time. 

 

And so when I started reading Zephaniah, I realized him and all of Judah were going through some things. It seemed the Lord was angry and wasn’t holding back. But… (there’s always a but in the Bible) if they trusted God, they would be alright. In fact, He reminded them that He would be with them always. And raise them up.

 

It’s that “but” that keeps me going. And I suspect so many others as well. It’s been a terrible year (yes, I’m talking about 2021) but…there were so many happy moments. Work has been harder this month than ever before but…I love the kids I get to see at drop off every morning. I miss eating out in restaurants or brunching with friends but…I’ve perfected homemade pizza and we have more frequent intentional catch-ups now. The list goes on and on. 

 

God (and my new friend Zephaniah) remind us to shout aloud, to be glad, to have a happy heart even when things are hard or were really hard not that long ago. And while it’s difficult at times, I try to remind myself of that whenever I’m down. While this may not be a season with as many gatherings as usual, I am safe and I am keeping others
safe and God is taking care of us all. That’s surely something to shout about! 

 

Prayer – 

God, you’ve turned back our enemy, figuratively and literally, time and time again, and I rejoice over that today and always. Thank you, for getting us through the tough times, and for reminding us there are always reasons to rejoice, at Christmastime and all the time. Amen.