“Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life. Rescue me from my enemies, Lord. I hide myself in You. (Psalm 143:8-9 MSG)
I read this text while it was still dark this morning and found myself wondering about Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. What was it like for him in Egypt, holding out for a green light from the Holy Ghost to go home? Scholars suggest holy family stayed a year or more out of country before Herod passed on and a divine dream pushed the political refugees homeward. It’s likely that they found other Jewish families fleeing Herod’s wrath, he was well-known for his temper and tyranny. Egypt was part of the Roman empire, but just outside of Herod’s domain. It’s historically intriguing that the holy family was displaced to Egypt; a land fraught with ancestral connections of provision and promise.
I wonder if Joseph awoke each day and whispered this psalm? I wonder if he recited soothing scripture as he tucked his tiny family in each night? Isn’t it a beautiful prayer for periods of unrest and overwhelming unknowns?
Our pastor prayed during staff meeting last week. She spoke a singular sentence that has sustained me for seven days:
“Lord, there are lot unknowns but we lean into the knowns.”
Whether we find ourselves in a foreign land far from home or in a familiar place with foreign feelings; we can choose to focus on the knowns. When someone is searching us out and demanding our demise, we can hold on to the knowns. When resources are running desperately low and rent is due soon, we can grab the knowns with both hands. When the lines between life and death grow dim, when loved ones have gone before us and normally happy holidays are haunted by past memories, we can run our fingers over the knows as spiritual braille for our souls.
What exactly are the knowns?
There are fairly easy to see in the Christmas story:
We have a Savior and He is with us.
On Sunday, our church family devotional solidified these two truths that have framed out every advent of my life.
We have a Savior and He is with us.
Whisper it to your soul today if you need to. Memorize these nine small words and tuck them in your pocket for when the unknowns start washing in. They will come, that’s the nature of life on earth. But all our unknowns push us toward the Known, toward full confidence in a loving God who will one day wake us up with unfailing love.
“She will give birth to a son an you are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save the people from their sins. They will call Him Immanuel (which means God with us).” (Matthew 1:22-23 NIV)
Lord, today in the deafening dark of unknown, we look to You. We see how You sustained the holy family. We know that You brought them back safely to Nazareth but we know so much more than that. We know You are a Savior and You’re with us. May that truth be enough to turn the volume down on the other unknowns in our story. This Christmas, may the knowns fill our hearts and shape our thinking. May they affect our conversations and expectations. May they lift our gaze past the confines of earth and to the greater goal of eternity. May we look for and find courage the share the knowns with the people we come in contact with this season. Amen.