The Suddenly of Christmas
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.
~ The Gospel of Luke, 2:14
Despite having precisely one full year to prepare for Christmas, we inevitably break into a panicked fright around mid-December when we are startled by Christmas Tide knocking on our door again. Some of our most inspired planning casually coalesces in July as we watch bundled-up Hallmark Channel actors suppress their sweat while frolicking in deep-fake snow. Then, on August 1st, we shake the Etch-a-Sketch over our heads and erase Christmas planning from our brains.
Shopping, decorating, and festivities aside, these past few Christmases have been particularly trying for me. So trying, my faith has been fire-tested so that every seam in my life is stressed and thoroughly singed.
I owned a successful consulting company for years, but in December 2020, by no fault of my own, we lost our contracts, and I had to lay off my entire team. With two boys in college, I began collecting unemployment for the first time in my life. Merry Christmas to me.
Only by God’s good grace did we make it through that first year. I often tell people there is a Kingdom economic plan that you will discover only when there are no options left. The testimony of that tested truth is that we never missed a mortgage payment. 2021 was also the year I began writing and setting up my blog, The Wine Patch. The Lord may take away, but He is always giving something new in exchange.
After submitting my resume with 30 years of professional experience to almost 200 different companies, I think I’ve tallied a dozen automated responses, 4 interviews, and not a single offer.
In 2022, I managed to piece together a few small projects, and by early 2023, I was able to bring back two of my old teammates. Making a fraction of what I used to earn felt like progress, and we were grateful for an answered prayer.
But two weeks before Christmas 2023, our approved contract for 2024 was snatched from under me like the old tablecloth trick. With plates and glasses crashing to the ground, for the second time, I had to lay off my team. Merry Christmas to us.
The first half of 2024 was some of the darkest days of my life. Discouragement, despair, and waves of delusion became my abiding, unholy friends. And when people asked me how they could pray for me, I would always say, “Pray for Jill. She has to live with me.”
Throughout these four years, we have prayed. We have fasted. We have taken communion in our home. We have held tightly to the prophetic words spoken to us. We have continued to serve, continued to give, and I continue to lead worship. And I write, which is sometimes the hardest thing to do.
But while those first six months of 2021 felt like taking a deep breath and going underwater to playfully see how long I could hold it, 2024 has felt more like my foot is stuck in the drain in the deep end, and I am out of air.
Just as bountiful blessing insulates us with comfort, prolonged suffering exacerbates pain. Yet, few Evangelical pulpits journey into the deep end to dare contemplate the nearness of suffering. Instead, everything is up, everything is exciting, everything is shiny, and everything is immediate. And why not? We love it when prayers are answered immediately.
The Doctrine of Immediately
Most of the accounts of Jesus’ miraculous healings happened immediately.
“Immediately, his leprosy was cleansed.”
“Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight.”
“Immediately, the crippled man stood up and took his stretcher.”
“Immediately, the man’s ears were opened.”
“He commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately, she got up and began to serve them.”
I’ve been in prayer meetings and altar calls when the pastor laid hands on someone for healing. Too often, the only immediately I saw was how quickly that pastor moved to the next person.
I believe in biblical, supernatural healing not only because I’ve experienced it but because Jesus told us we could do it. But what can we say when the immediate healing we pray for repeatedly fails?
The Opposite of Immediately Is Not Never
In the Book of Acts, there is a stirring account of Paul and Silas in desperate need of their immediately. Chapter 16 opens with Paul having a dream which immediately leads him to travel to Macedonia. When they arrived, they came upon a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. As she followed Paul’s group, she shouted and caused consternation because she bore the voice of a demonic spirit.
Paul turned, rebuked the spirit, and commanded, “Come out of her.” The spirit came out of her immediately.
The girl was set free but lost her gift of fortune-telling, so her owners became irate. Paul and Silas were forcibly brought before the magistrates, stripped of their clothing, severely beaten, put in chains, and thrown in prison.
As they were being falsely accused, the truth was not immediately revealed. When they were condemned before the magistrates, the justice they sought was not immediately served. As the crowd began tearing their clothes off, a holy angel did not immediately intervene.
As each clenched fist and hack of the rod landed on their naked bodies, the only sensation they immediately felt was unbearable pain. Blow after blow after blow.
As they were dragged into their prison cell feeling utterly abandoned, I imagine they were quizzically praying:
Lord, where are You? Why is this happening? How could you let them do this to us? We are serving you! We performed countless miracles for others; where is ours?
To further personalize this unbearable scene, allow me to overlay some possible protestations from my worst emotional dives;
I did what You asked, and this is my reward? What have I done to deserve this? Why does everyone else have it better than me? If my child were suffering like this, I would have stopped it by now.
And now you see why you should pray for Jill.
Our prayers can take on limitless forms of expressed devotion based upon our state of mind and posture of soul. When it is well with my soul, the modals of petition, gratitude, contrition, and intercession seem to flow nobly. But when my soul is unwell and in wait of its immediately, my articulations are packaged in anger, doubt, questioning, and accusation.
Thank God Paul and Silas didn’t share my exposed and unstable foundational flaws. Instead of shaking their fists toward heaven, they set their affections upon The Lord. And instead of counting their wounds, they counted themselves among the worshippers of God.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
~ Verse 25
Of this I am sure: Worship matters. When we release worship regardless of the wellness of our soul, even the angels gather to behold such a marvel.
Suddenly, there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
~ Verse 26
The Lord may not move immediately, but when He moves, it is always suddenly. And when the suddenly of God comes upon you, your immediately is taken care of.
Imagine the fear, confusion, and discouragement the disciples felt as they cowered in the upper room after Jesus’ death. “Suddenly, a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.”
When Peter was in jail waiting to be killed by Herod, “Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in his prison cell.”
While bloodthirsty Saul was traveling to Damascus to imprison more Christians, “Suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground.”
It was a long, dark night that Christmas Eve. Shepherds on the night watch had to fight off sleep to protect their flocks from predators. Seconds seem like minutes, and minutes seem like hours under the endless celestial canopy. “Why can’t I have a day job like everyone else? How long until Israel receives Her King? I’m so tired, I wish I could go to sleep. God, these sheep stink! What did I just step in?!”
And suddenly there appeared . . .
Bible References in order:
Mat 8:3, Mat 20:34, Mark 2:12, Mark 7:35, Luke 4:39, Acts 2:2, Acts 12:7, Acts 9:3
