Scripture Reading: Genesis 49:10, Numbers 24:17, 2 Samuel 7:8-16, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:2-7, Mark 10:46-52, Romans 1:1-6
Wishing for a crystal ball is common when discussing the human condition. Our lives and the fallen world can feel fragile—a moment can change the trajectory of our lives forever. A disaster, diagnosis, or deviance from what is typical might carve a path in our story that we didn’t expect.
Have you ever thought, “I could have more peace in the meantime if I just knew how long I had to wait?” Have you ever wondered, “if I knew the end was in sight, I wouldn’t have so much fear and anxiety?”
Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. —Genesis 49:1
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone pulled you aside and shared this statement with you? This is how Genesis 49 begins. The prophecy we read in verse ten is part of Jacob’s blessing to his sons right before his death. His son’s descendants formed the twelve tribes of Israel, and Jacob shares what will become of each of them. We learn here that the Messiah will come from the line of Judah.
The Old Testament is laced with prophecy that reveals the first coming of Christ. Genesis and Numbers reveal that the Messiah will come from Jacob’s line, specifically the tribe of Judah. In 2 Samuel, God makes a covenant with David to further explain that God’s forever kingdom will come from David’s lineage. Isaiah tells us that the coming Savior will be born of a virgin and that He will be God with us in the flesh—Immanuel.
Flipping the pages of Scripture from this moment to when Jesus actually walked on earth reveals that this waiting would have spanned generations. The Israelites, at times, grew weary and became tempted to lose faith.
We will celebrate the virgin birth in just a few days. Culturally, the season of Christmas can carry crushing expectations and hopes for the future. We wrongly use Advent to wait for a Hallmark-style Christmas miracle. While we don’t have a crystal ball to give us the play-by-play our life will take, we actually have something better. While we fear the unknown, we can be confident our promise-keeping God does not.
In His wisdom, He does not give us a fortune-teller’s reading of our lives. Instead, He gives us daily bread for each day to grow our dependence on Him as well as a long-term hope that He is light in a dark world, and we can be confident He will return again.
Written by Kasey Moffett
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61 thoughts on "Born Thy People to Deliver Day 23"
Lord I thank you! There is none higher than you!
Thank you for this devotional. I am many days behind, and yet this was exactly what God needed me to hear. My anxiety is high because of relationship issues and I just cried out this morning ‘how long’ will this go on? Will it be forever? I appreciate the encouragement to draw closer to God… that is where anxiety and discouragement vanish. This is the day that the Lord has made – let us rejoice and be glad in it❤️
Thank you for this devotional. My anxiety is high this morning as there are many relational issues I wish
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God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
God is good all the time.
Chloe, I too had a baby in the NICU at Christmas time and it is such a struggle. I had two NICU babies and the waiting is the worst, however both of them came home and are doing well and I often think if only I could have seen how it would all turn out it would have made the waiting easier. So from the other side, I encourage you. The wait is so hard but so worth it. Try to bond with your sweet babe and wait expectantly for when he is strong enough to come home. Prayers for you this week!
Thank you Jesus for coming to the earth. The fulfillment of prophecy, the long awaited savior. Thank God the Father for setting forth your plan for man’s redemption for centuries. I am always encouraged reading the prophecies about Jesus and knowing God had a plan all along. He is sovereign and good.
Chloe- I wanted to say I was thinking and praying for you and your sweet boy. We had a NICU baby around Christmas time two years ago and it is so hard!! Prayers for strength and hope
Chloe- I just wanted to say you are in my thoughts and prayers. We also had a NICU baby around Christmas-time two years ago and it is hard! Prayers for strength for yo
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Praying for strength and peace for you Chloe. ❤️
wonderful counselor! amen!
Wow Lauren Isaly, my baby’s name is Elijah too !
Wanna talk about a kick in the gut. I’m the worlds best over-thinker. Even when I act like I have it all together, I’m in a constant state of “what’s around the corner”. I’ve strayed this year. I’ve become so burnt out in my job (nurse), raising three boys, and just doing life in general. I think so many times that “I don’t have time” to dive into the Word. I’m stopping all my excuses now.
Not a bad habit! My faith grew so much during that time with my daughter. I felt so connected to being a mom and frequently thought about how Mary probably rocked Jesus to sleep and comforted him.
Foster Mama thank you ! As I rocked my son to sleep tonight (bad habit, I know!) I just held his head next to mine and thought “am I ruining his baby years? Can I love another baby as much as I love this one??” Your words are such an encouragement to me. As was this devotional, literally right before I sat down to read this I thought “I wish I knew how all this will turn out”. But I need my daily bread, not a crystal ball. I do have a small praise report, I was able to bump up my appointment to the December 28th!
This devotional really spoke to me today. I have such high expectations of how Christmas should be. I do watch a lot of hallmark movies, and this year I want to just be thankful for everything that God has given me. I don’t want to miss the joy or what I do have, waiting for what I want.
I feel very convicted by today’s reading and devotional. I have been feeling so much anxiety and fear over the future and I feel like God is reminding me that He’s in control, He’s got me and to trust Him.
I feel very convicted by today’s reading and devotional. I have been feeling so much anxiety and fear over the future because right now it’s just a big black void.
I feel very convicted by today’s reading and devotional. I have a
This season I pray for joy in the waiting. Waiting could be crushing, but joy while waiting with clarity of purpose for the wait can ease of the pressure. I pray for joy to all you dear shes and your family and your situation. May the joy be multiplied, may the explosive joy as of at harvest time or when dividing great spoil will come and flood your soul and your environment. May we give thanks and praise continually to the Joy Giver in this season. “For you will go out with joy And be led in peace; The mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12. Be blessed dear sisters.
Oh in our hardest struggles, the waiting can be so overwhelming. I love the reminder that it is for us to rely on God, and He will provide our daily manna. Sometimes, even in a non-waiting period…I need the daily manna. Hope for my soul, love in my spirit, grace in my speech, joy in my steps… The world can wear us down. Thank God for Jesus! And that we have the access to the Holy Spirit! It’s a marvelous thing, let’s turn that power up! Give me manna Heavenly Father, for my tired aching bones and muscles, my tired and overwhelmed mind, and my tired and lowly soul. This is the day the Lord has made, let’s be glad in it! Praise the Lord!
This post speaks to me today. I have said several times for this past year “If I just had a crystal ball… if I just knew”. As a 31 year old longing to get married and have kids I often worry that won’t happen for me. I’ve said before if I could just go to a psychic and ask them then id be content. If it’s not meant to happen I’ll learn to deal with it but if it meant to happen then I’ll find peace in that. I often find I have a hard time dating because I put so much pressure on the future. This waiting period is HARD and I have never experienced anything like it. I often feel defeated or like my prayers aren’t being heard. Many of my friends easily found their husbands and I wonder where did I go wrong? I don’t want to be that person who looks back and wishes I wouldn’t have been so worried because it will work out but not having control over the situation is frustrating. I pray this season of waiting will end sooner rather than later ❤️.
I read this devotional walking to the hospital elevator and stopped in my tracks. In the past few days I have said more than once, “if I only had a date, I could summon up the stamina.” The exact sentiment communicated in todays devotion.
My baby is in the NICU, having been born 8 weeks too soon. Highly unlikely he will be home for Christmas but I have found myself saying and thinking if I only knew how much longer, I’d work up the stamina. But I don’t. And in this, God is good, because His mercies are new every morning. Because we need them every morning.
@ VICTORIA E ❤️ – I definitely agree with @ JLYNN, and a heart doubling in size! Between now and Jan 11, there is so much to do, a “First Christmas” to celebrate, peppermint brownies to eat (I really hope :)!) and a new year to ring in, with a re-commitment to what is important….I pray it will flow joyfully and easily for you.
@ K ❤️– I can feel you in every word you wrote; my heart is with you and a prayer that,…why not why not use Jan 11 for you ALSO?! …that this time will be filled with joy, peace that surpasses all understanding, peppermint brownies (!)
and that on ✨Jan 12 ✨ as we yearn for a praise report from VICTORIA E, you too will have a story of something beautiful landing in your “open hands”
Please pray for my son Matthew, who is estranged from me by his own choice. He is coming to visit his father for Christmas, but not me. The misogyny and judgment coming from him cuts deeply, as his father abused both of us for many years. My other children will be spending Christmas with me, but aren’t very interested in the faith I taught them since the divorce. Pray that I may model grace and truth to them in this season. Thank you, SHEs.
Be blessed and trust, rely, follow, have faith in, call out to, and praise the Lord whenever and wherever needed because HE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE there for you sisters.
Churchmouse, I love that story. Thank you for sharing.
Amen! He keeps His promises. Sometimes it’s hard to wait on what He may have promised, but what a gift it is!
Have a blessed day, sisters!
Amen! He keeps His promises. Sometimes it’s hard to wait on what He may have promised, but what a gift it is!
I made a typo! I meant Isaiah 7:14. Need more coffee
Such great wisdom here. Thank you for sharing. One quick thing… the scripture referenced in the beautiful photo is incorrect. It references Ephesians 6:10, and I think you meant Isaiah 7:10. I was about to share it on the socials and noticed it.
An excellent reminder that although we can’t know the future, we have an unchanging God who knows and cares. Thank you!
I know I would not have wanted a crystal ball. It was better that I didn’t know my baby would have such a rare illness that was only shared with 2,000 in the world. That my father was going to die in a house fire. That I would go through divorce and remarry a wonderful man that’s daughter almost broke us. But as I look back I had fears that related to two of these situations. I had a tendency to choke and said I would probably die that way. Yet it was my son that had these issues. Choking on water really was the part of his finale decline. I was so afraid of sirens when I was a little girl. I would walk to school and hear them and think it might be my family. Kind of weird….But God pulled me towards Him time and time again. And that I might have liked to have a vision of.
Our service at church was about true love. I realized that I’m very far away from truly loving others. That is something I need to work on.
A reminder that Gods promises are rarely immediate and that if we continue to have faith, all the details of our lives are pieces of that promise sprinkled around in tiny droppings – even the suffering.
❤️ I listened to the She Reads Truth Spotify Advent playlist they created yesterday and there was a sonbfg titled Wrap this One Up by Christy Nockles. I highly recommend the listen.
So grateful for Gods word and promises. He is a light in the darkness and His promises never change.
Praise the Lord that Jesus answers when we cry out to Him. We have been born in spiritual blindness, but when we cry out to Him in faith to give us spiritual sight, He opens our eyes and causes us to see so that we will follow Him. He is merciful to those who cry out for mercy.
Jesus is powerful to work holiness in our lives. He uses every circumstance in the life of His followers to bring about the good of His holiness in us. Because He has been raised from the dead, those who have trusted in His salvation have the hope of eternal life. He gives His followers the grace to obey Him by faith for the sake of His name among other people. We can obey Christ and be gracious to others because of His Spirit in us.
FYI … The reference on today’s graphic is wrong. That verse is not found in Ephesians 6:10. It is found in Isaiah 7:14.
Several years ago my brother did a genealogy search and drew up our family tree. The results were fascinating! There was a relative, way back, who came from Ireland and began a missionary effort not far from my grandparents’ homestead. She established a convent and served the community of Irish Catholics in the surrounding area. Upon her death the remaining nuns wore a book chronicalling her life and mission. Upon my parents death I inherited the book as well as a copy of my brother’s genealogical discovery. Seeds of faith planted that bear fruit even today. Though several of us have abandoned the Catholic faith for evangelical Christianity, reading the biography is a tender reminder of how far- reaching our faith can be. We don’t need a crystal ball. We have the revelation of the Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. God tells us that we are to be sowers of His Word, leaving the harvest to Him. May His Light shine through us so that our legacy of faith is a long and enduring one.
“In His wisdom, He does not give us a fortune-teller’s reading of our lives. Instead, He gives us daily bread for each day to grow our dependence on Him as well as a long-term hope that He is light in a dark world, and we can be confident He will return again.”
This is so true. Yet, sometimes God does give us a glimpse of our future.
A few months ago, I was really feeling stuck and listless and spent a month in prayer and fasting to figure out why. I knew if I sought God, I would find Him (and whatever He wanted to reveal). I think just within the first week and a half, the Lord spoke to my heart and told me to get ready for a new adventure. He wanted me to move to a new place I’ve never been before. That was in August.
He has not yet revealed when or where I will be going. I have been waiting on Him. Holy Spirit is funny. As I was laying in bed last night, I thought, “God, was it really necessary to tell me that in August? That seems so early and it feels like pointless to know this if nothing is happening… But I trust You told me with purpose.”
This morning I go upstairs to find my sister sprawled out on the couch. For whatever reason my sisters told my mom they feel “uncomfortable” sleeping in the same room as me. I go in the kitchen and see a huge mess in the sink. I say, “Why God? I’m sick of cleaning up after adult children. I can’t wait to live in my own space, again.”
Holy Spirit reminds me its not my job to clean up after them, even though I often choose to just do it for the sake of cleanliness. This study is just so on point. God does not NEED to give us a glimpse of our futute. He wants us dependent on Him. I feel my dependence on His grace even having a glimpse of my future!!! Lol.
God, I don’t know why I share this story today. Perhaps, just to be seen and say, “you’re not alone, and God’s timing is beyond our comprehension.” His thoughts are higher than ours. I don’t know why God revealed I will move, but I’m also thankful there is an end in sight. <3
Praise God that we not only have His word to learn and grow by day by day – our daily bread – but that He also left us His Holy Spirit. Thank you God for including this in Your Holy Scriptures, “And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:6)
@Julie Roberson – I hope you see and read this post…I have a cousin who’s son is going through the same exact thing – substance abuse, depression and PTSD from military duty. He recently went to and is currently at Camp Hope in Houston, TX. The Camp Hope staff is a unique team of certified combat Veterans and civilian pastoral staff trained in working with victims of trauma and post-traumatic stress. Maybe this is something that your daughter would consider and benefit from. You can check it out by googling “Camp Hope, Houston TX”… I will be praying for your beloved daughter!
Happy Monday my Sisters!
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“Lord Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark 10:47). Thank You Morning Star for rising in my heart and having mercy on me. Thank You for giving me sight. Just as the blind beggar in Jericho recognized You shining in the darkness, so I have called to You. And You called me near. What do I want from You Jesus? To see. To follow You out of the sin and danger of Jericho to the city of salvation Jerusalem. Sin and evil may still surround me, but I am safe and guarded by the Lord of Angel Armies. Let my voice be used to call out to the blind, “Be of good cheer. Rise. He is calling you!” (Mark 10:49). So rise, He is calling you! When we do, the next thing we hear is “Go. Your faith has saved you” (v. 52). Let us go, until… Maranatha. Amen.
Seeking Him more as we grow in faith we also deepen our reliance on Him
I love this… We are not given a crystal ball but “daily bread.” Help me, Father, to TRUST.
Very grateful for a noticing and prayerful community. Todays reading felt perfectly timed. May our dependence on God grow more and more.
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Give us this day our daily bread, Father. In Jesus name, Amen
Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to deliver us. Prisoners, once freed, don’t go back to prison. May we be the same – keep us from going back to the sin from which you delivered us. Help us see the sin for the bondage it is and walk in freedom one step at a time. Amen.
Thankful we can trust in God who is light in a dark world and who holds our future in His hands. I loved the quote from today’s devotion: “While we fear the unknown, we can be confident our promise-keeping God does not.” Lord may I deepen my dependence on You this season and lay all my fears and anxieties at your feet <3
Give us this day, our daily bread.
“ We will celebrate the virgin birth in just a few days. Culturally, the season of Christmas can carry crushing expectations and hopes for the future. We wrongly use Advent to wait for a Hallmark-style Christmas miracle. While we don’t have a crystal ball to give us the play-by-play our life will take, we actually have something better. While we fear the unknown, we can be confident our promise-keeping God does not.”
Hmmm…”a Hallmark style Christmas” instead of celebrating the birth of the one who set is all free!
I just spent past weekend with my family. It was great to see and visit with people I haven’t seen for awhile. It was good to reminisce and relax. I felt good about it.
However, this morning, I realize that only once during the weekend did we briefly mention why we celebrate this season. The birth of Jesus. I feel like we lost that reason while we celebrated seeing each other. I missed another opportunity to share more about the zone who has pursued me and loved my first…about the freedom I have from sin and death because of Him.
Father, forgive me for forgetting You and Your plan when You gave me the opportunity to share about Your love and Your redemption with my family. Help me to keep You at the forefront of my mind this season no matter who I am with and everywhere I go. I love you, Lord! Amen!
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I pray for peace for us all and the continual hope in Jesus Christ. I pray we keep our focus on you, Lord, despite what the day brings.
As I sit here reading God’s word on my tablet that is accessible with a just touch, it is hard to comprehend what it took for God’s people to record, protect and teach His word to generation after generation, to realize they were being inspired to record the history of creation and the lengths to which God would go for His people -which would be quoted centuries later as the prophecies were fulfilled. Amazing.
K – praying for your husband’s job situation and that God will lead him to another job that will fit him even better.
RHONDA J – that is great about son & gf, maybe this church will feel like home.
“He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
May I worship You with my life Lord