"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

When I was a kid, I thought "Word" here was referring to the Bible. You know, the Word of God. So I thought, "Okay, yeah, the Bible has always been around, it was with God because He wrote it, and it was God because His words are who He is." Guess what. That isn't what's going on here!

The Word is Jesus! I'm sure many of you knew that already, but it was a major lightbulb moment for me. But why does it matter so much? Check out verse 14:

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." (John 1:14) 

This is Christmas. This is the our hope! Immanuel, GOD WITH US, coming to our destitute and desperate world to bring us life.

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world." (John 1: 4-5, 9) 

"Be still and know that I am God." -Psalm 46:10

Our modern culture seems rather averse to waiting. We like quick commutes and short lines. We have even created restaurants called fast food restaurants! When we decide we want something, we like to have it and have it soon.

But doesn't God call us to wait sometimes? Doesn't He gently lean down and whisper, "Not yet" into our yearning ears? We hear and we cringe because we don't like the "not yet" and the "no's." So our souls cry out, "Why, Lord? Why can't I have this good thing that I want? It isn't even sinful!"

So what are we to do in the meantime, in the in-between places? What should our response be when the lover of our souls says, "no"?

"Be still and know that I am God." -Psalm 46:10

Often, the word "still" means to stop moving. We tell kids to be still in church or the movie theater because we are tired of their squirming. But here, the Psalmist uses a Hebrew word that means "to let go" or "release."

And this is where we see the true command. God says, "Let go, stop holding on, stop trying to control this, release your grip."

We are so good at trying to control every details of our lives, right up to the point where we start to think we know better than omniscient God. Our thoughts shout, "Surely my plan will work. I can make it happen if I just..."

But God says, "Release." Trust. Know that I am God. Know it in your mind, your heart, your very soul. Live it, breathe it.

In the knowing, there is trust and peace. There isn't striving or fretting or worrying. Only a deep peace that our God is carefully orchestrating every detail to bring about His will. When the time is right, He will bend down and whisper, "Now."

"How tragic that when we chase something in this world, we're actually running away from the stable trust and secure love our souls long for the most. Our souls were created to be pursued and fulfilled by God's love and goodness. Other chases deplete us and erode our trust." (Uninvited, 64)

"The enemy loves to take our rejection and twist it into a raw, irrational fear that God really doesn't have a good plan for us. This fear is a corrupting companion. It replaces the truths we've trusted with hopeless lies." (Uninvited, 129)

When people used to ask me what my greatest fear was, I would always answer "abandonment." I was terrified of being alone, not because I didn't know how to do it, but because I equated it with rejection. If I was alone, I wasn't good enough for anyone. I wasn't worth anyone's time, effort, or love.

And then, one day, my greatest fear was no longer a nightmare to be dreamed in the darkness of night; it was reality. Abandonment was staring me in the face, baring its angry teeth and pushing me deep into the ground. I was alone. I was rejected. I was not enough.

After pole vaulting from one relationship to another, I found myself choosing Jesus over everything else, and I walked the path alone. And the most ironic thing was that it was my choice. I created my own abandonment.

For a good while, I wallowed in my misery, feeling invisible and unwanted. I cried out to the God I had given up everything for to heal me and to fill my heart with something, anything other than despair and emptiness.

I had lost deeply, and I felt it hard.

Soon, His grace fell upon my heart, and I began to realize a solid truth.

Rejection is usually the pathway toward something far greater than we've even imagined.

He has to remove our blindness so we can see Him.

As creatures of habit, we like to bask in the warmth of our comfort zones, all the while unable to imagine life any other way. We like the expected. We like the routine. We like to know what's coming. But it is in that kind of living that we sometimes stop seeking His next steps for us.

Do you see? The rejection we fear is often God's way of clearing our world so we will see what He's got planned for us next. And His way is ALWAYS better than our comfortable existence of routine and ease.

"I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lamentations 3:24-26)