The Most Important JourneySample

Day 11

by Hannah Erickson

Contributor, Seacoast Mount Pleasant Campus

God With Us

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “See the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel” which is translated “God is with us.” ~ Matthew 1:22-23 (CSB)

Recently, my five-year-old little boy was having trouble going to sleep. He came to me, crying, “Mommy, my sisters share a room, you and Daddy share a room, but I’m the only one with no one. I’m the only one all alone.” Even though his room is right next to ours, he wanted and needed to be with me, snuggled in my arms, so his little, anxious heart could relax, and his body could sleep. But as he began to breathe deeply, his words rang in my ear and weighed on my heart. “I’m the only one all alone.”

What a heavy feeling for such a little one to express! It broke my heart to hear because I know without him realizing it, he’s alluding to an even deeper desire each of us has inside to know we are not alone. You see, our Heavenly Father lovingly created us to want and need his presence with us. But ever since sin separated us from him, we all have this instinctive yearning to know we are not alone.

I imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, how deeply fulfilling it must have been to hear God’s voice speaking love and life over them, and to know what his pure presence felt like—such freedom, joy, peace, and love! Then, how desperate, and utterly alone they must have felt when their sin meant they had to leave the Garden and God’s presence.

Through the Old Testament sacrificial system, we see how God made a way for his people to be cleansed and purified of sin, allowing them to experience his presence, but it wasn’t the same as that perfect, pure, innocent connection in the Garden. It all pointed to the need for a Savior, a rescuer, who would come down and physically be present with his people—to walk where they walked, live as they lived, and die for the sins for which they deserved to pay. They had been waiting, yearning for the day they could be reunited with the perfect presence of God. The miracle of the incarnation, spoken of by the prophets of old, was God coming down in the form of his own dearly beloved Son, to be with his people once again. God with us, Immanuel.

Reflect: What can we do to help others not feel alone this Christmas and experience God’s presence?