Adoption & the Advent: Devotional Reflections and Prayers for the Orphan

The advent season is a beautiful time to reflect on God's adoptive love for a broken world. Join me in preparing for Christmas by meditating daily on the coming of Christ and praying for the fatherless. 

Remembering the Winter 

 "Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.  How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.
  Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved."    Psalm 80: 1-7

    Christmas is a reminder that the king has come to save, restore, and heal. The birth of Christ is the birth of hope. It is the first light of dawn after a long dark night, or as CS Lewis writes, "When Aslan Bears his teeth winter meets its death. When he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again." Christmas is about the long, dark winter coming to an end.

    The Psalmist's cry in Psalm 80 is a pleading with the Lord for this long, dark winter to end. But there is a difference between reading these words as you are enjoying (and often taking for granted) the warmth of summer and hearing them when you are stuck in the dead of winter. Many of us experienced the dark, hopeless, anguish that flooded our lives prior to knowing Christ. Psalm 80 is a picture of the judgement from God that we experienced prior to knowing Christ. Had we not been so blind, we would have cried out these same words.

    To appreciate what Christ came to do we must reflect and remember the brokenness he restores, the judgement we will not have to bear, the tears we will no longer have to shed. Christmas is meaningless if we forget the hellish darkness Christ pierced light through.

Prayer for the Orphan:    

 Pray for the hundreds of millions of orphans world-wide who are not receiving enough food to keep them from hunger. Pray the Lord would work through believers in the darkest places of this earth to generously care for these needs.