12-Day Advent Devotional for FamiliesSample

Day 3 - The Promise: A Suffering Servant

Christmas is a season of great joy, and rightly so. But here’s another truth: Christmas can be hard for some people. Maybe Christmas reminds them of sad days in the past. They possibly miss people who are not with them. It may be that they see other families enjoying closeness, but they are lonely. Perhaps Christmas actually ends up bringing more sorrow than normal seasons of life.

If such thoughts sound familiar, here’s some encouragement. Hundreds of years before the Son of God came to earth, Isaiah saw what He would do. Jesus would not become a man—the God-man—in order to bark orders at us. He wasn’t coming to shout at us to paste a smile on our faces, no matter what. Neither was He coming to frown at us anytime we feel sad or alone.

No, Isaiah promised that the Suffering Servant—revealed in the New Testament as Jesus—was going to be extremely compassionate. He would not run from our “grief;” he would bear it. He would not flee from our “sorrows;” he would carry them. He would not desert us and leave us isolated; he would be alone, “stricken,” and “afflicted” in order to save us.

The biblical God is not hesitant to love; he is “abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6-7).

Whether your Christmas is in the company of many family members or not, you can go to God with your sorrows. He cares about your grief and wants to heal you. He sent his Son to wash us clean of our sins because he loves sinners like us. May this Christmas be a season of treasuring this truth.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for the promise of the suffering servant. Thank you that Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins. We praise you for your steadfast love. We ask that you would give us eyes to see just how loving and caring you are. We pray as well that you would give us faith where we have none and strengthen our faith where it is weak.

In Jesus’ name, amen.