Who Has Your Back?

Personal reflections on Advent: Christmas
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25

  

During the 60’s, in small town America, about the only the thing to do on a weekend for fun was to cruise around “the strip”. That’s what they called the main drag where teenagers drove round and round looking for excitement. For me, that town was Alma, Michigan.

 

On one such occasion, shortly after getting my driver’s license, I was driving around the strip in my parents Buick Wildcat. It had a 325 horsepower and 425 cubic inch motor. Although it was as big as a boat, it had a lot of power… and it was fast!

 

Apparently, it was too fast because I was stopped by the police and given a ticket for pulling out of a parking lot in an “unsafe manner”. As a result, I had to appear in court with my Dad before a judge. It was all a very frightening experience but knowing that my Dad would be there with me helped a lot.

 

Growing up, I always knew that my parents had my back. They never told me that in so many words. They just did it.

 

One central theme that persists throughout the Bible is that God promises to always be with His people; to have their back. He promised Abram, Isaac and Jacob. He promised Moses and David. He even promised Gideon who was hiding in a winepress. Then in the New Testament, he promised Joseph… only not exactly.

 

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).       NIV

 

These words were written about 700 years before Jesus was born, as a promise to Israel that God would be with them. But they were also spoken to Joseph to convince him to take Mary as his bride. In fact, God was promising to not just be with Joseph and Mary, but to be with you and me.

 

In The Message, Eugene Peterson puts it like this.

 

^14a The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.      John 1

 

I’m sure my Dad wasn’t happy about me getting a ticket. There’s a lot of different ways that he could have handled the situation. The spectrum could’ve ranged anywhere from painfully punitive to superbly supportive. He was supportive. He didn’t make me face it alone but was there by my side.

 

God with us. What an amazing promise.

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams