immanuel

 S T A T I O N 3

TRANSCRIPTION

I was afraid to look at God the first time I met him. I was at my lowest point - isolated and disowned. I was rejected by Pharaoh's family who raised me and the Hebrews who were my true people. I had been angry and frustrated trying to figure out who I was, torn between royalty and slavery, and in my anger I killed a man. My anger immediately turned to fear and I left everything I knew behind, running away from my sin to the middle of a desert where I thought I could hide. And God met me here.

He met me in my darkness with a blazing fire that engulfed a living bush but didn’t consume it. I was amazed! And truthfully a bit terrified. I feared I wouldn’t have the same outcome as the bush in the presence of a holy God, to be engulfed but not consumed, so I was afraid to look at Him. Oh how little I truly knew Him then!

The more I walked with Him the more I wanted to see Him, hear His voice, listen to His heart. The fire that once scared me now seems to warm the coldest parts of my heart and I could not imagine my life without Him. And when I asked Him to show me His unrestrained glory He was kind enough to show me the slightest glimpse as He passed by. I could not see His face because no man is capable of seeing the face of God without being completely consumed. 

It was enough for me, but I still long for the day when we could walk in the garden with God as in the beginning. And it will come. Messiah will be the one to bring shalom between God and man so that we can be in His presence and not be consumed! 

But you, Bethlehem, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for God one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

“He is here!”

With tears in her eyes, she takes the newborn baby and brings him to rest on her chest.

“He really is here! Our God is with us again!:

“I can’t help but think about what the angel said to me when I was afraid to marry you; he said, ‘He will save His people from their sins.’”

“He said to name him Jesus, ‘God saves,’ and that, ‘He will be called holy—the Son of God.’ Is this the face of God?! Are we truly able to look into the eyes of our Creator again?”

“Don’t forget the most important words the angel said, ‘Nothing is impossible with God!’”

Have you ever felt isolated, rejected, ashamed? Have you tried to run away from the things in your past that haunt you hoping to hide from their memory? Are you afraid that if you look into God’s face, He would be angry and consume you? 

Oh, how I want you to know who I AM!! It is true, that the perfection and holiness of God cannot tolerate sinfulness and imperfection, but His unconditional love and mercy bubbles over in an eternal wave that even the angels can hardly comprehend! 

My coming marked the beginning of reconciliation, the moment when God Himself stepped into your darkness to bring light. Immanuel, God with you: in your pain, in your joy, in your sorrow, in your sin, in your freedom, in your brokenness, in your healing, I AM with you. And with My presence, there is peace. Shalom.