Arrival: The Advent for the Missionary's Heart

December 1

*In an effort to renew my heart, as well as my longing for Christ I’ve decided to attempt to write a new advent devotional every morning until December 25^th. I want to remember this season of arrival, as I am begging for Christ to arrive in the hearts of those around me. While this advent is not only for missionaries, there will be some devotionals that focus on the heart cries of us as we wait to see Christ exalted in the dark places. *

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The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

Genesis 49:10

            Excitement bubbled within me and would hardly allow sleep as I lay there in the middle of the night knowing that today would begin Advent. This Arrival season is one where we as Christians look forward to the second coming of the victorious, ruling Messiah and look back to His first coming as a humble, tiny baby. A missionary often finds their hearts cluttered with a mix of emotions as we look back on everything we left behind and look forward to all that God will do in the land to which He has called us. This is an emotion the people of promise were rather familiar with. They had heard these prophecies of the coming Messiah and what would come from their fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers. But they also took so much pride and honor in their past, in the fact that God had chosen them to be His people. However, Genesis 49 promises something for us, it promises that “the nations” will be part of this ruler’s kingdom. 

As we look back on Jesus’ birth and look forward to His return, we have the hope that He will forever reign (the scepter will not depart), and that the nations “shall be his.” In this world full of darkness, wherever we sit today, the Called-Out Ones have a promise that the nations shall be HIS. When we are tired and weary, and feel as if we have no more energy or desire to share because of the darkness covering the land we are in, let us cling to this promise. Let us look forward to this HOPE: the goodness of His unending reign and the majesty of His promise! He is coming and all nations shall be His!