This morning I woke up with the traditional Christmas carol, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen running through my head and it reminded me that God has placed a purpose within everything.
God rest ye merry gentlemen; let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day.
To save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.
O, tidings of comfort and joy!
Our faith tradition declares that God created out of love for love. This was, is and will be God’s purpose.
God’s ultimate purpose is to save us all from Satan’s power. Thank the Lord, nothing will defeat the purpose of God.
Sometimes though, I think we work very hard at trying to undo God’s purpose. I do not think anyone intentionally chooses darkness over light but I do think that when we live for selfish ambition, before we know it we discover that we’ve wandered into some very dark places.
To my utter amazement, God has just never given up the effort to bring us back home. The longer I am alive the more this truth brings to me that blessed assurance.
King David was very descriptive when describing what a life can look like that is lived into God’s purpose.
He wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul…(Psalm 23:1-3a KJV).”
This is a psalm of pure tranquility. It is a psalm illustrating God’s purposeful, parental love.
At times we do not know what’s in our best interest! At times we need for God to make us lie down and rest.
Rest of the soul is what we are after, even if we have not realized it yet. God rest ye merry gentlemen. Do not let anything cause dismay, apprehension, sadness, disappointment, panic or alarm.
Christ came to save us all from Satan’s power to drag us astray. Christ came to give our lives Divine purpose.
And, here’s the deal, when we smell the coffee, when we awaken to God’s purpose for our lives, nothing else will bring us any semblance of comfort and joy.
Maybe Isaac Watts was right:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make the blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found.
(Joy to the World, Isaac Watts, UMH vs #3)
“The earth is the Lord‘s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein (Psalm 24:1 KJV).” In other words, all of created order, us included, was created to serve God’s divine purpose.
As much as we might think that life is all about us, it’s really about God’s mission. And, we will only have comfort and joy by living into God’s story instead of our own.
Pride will not go down without a fight either! So, let’s not make this more painful than it has to be.
Even Jacob lost his wrestling match with God. But, my goodness, look at the adventure God had prepared for him! Where do you want to go today?