Scriptures and Hymns to Grow Your Joy This ChristmasSample

Day 1: Hope in Jesus’ victory

READ: Habakkuk 3:19-3:19

LISTEN: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”

REFLECT:

These verses that close out the prophet Habakkuk’s writings can be some of the most challenging in the whole Bible. We’re tempted to ask, “Really, God? Even if there’s nothing in my bank account and my loved ones are sick or dying? ‘Rejoice’ then?” The Bible’s answer is yes. And the bracing lines of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” tell us the same thing: Amid “the gloomy clouds of night” and “death’s dark shadows,” God’s people are called to “rejoice!”

Why? Because Emmanuel — God with us — is on His way here. This hymn is an embodied ache of living in our fallen world. And we’ve felt those pains even more acutely than usual the last couple years, haven’t we? Yet we sing this somber hymn alongside upbeat carols like “Go Tell It on the Mountain” at Christmas to remind ourselves that Jesus was born to deal with a very specific problem: death’s erosive power over our lives and world.

Biblical joy, in the words of Habakkuk and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” is rooted in the hope of the incarnated Jesus’ certain victory over the hold death currently has on all we love. With His coming, Jesus disperses the clouds and “put[s] to flight” the shadows. Habakkuk can declare, “I will be joyful in God my Savior” (v. 18) because of the hope that the Savior will put death itself to death — by His own birth, death, and resurrection.

How does reflecting on Jesus’ world-changing birth reorient your circumstances this Christmas, whether you’re rejoicing or suffering? Where is God showing you how to rejoice in Him?

“With Jesus, even in our darkest moments the best remains and the very best is yet to be.”—Corrie ten Boom