Advent: Week 4 | Day 5

December 23 | Isaiah 7:14

By Adam Smith

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. — Isaiah 7:14

Speak the word the prophet gave: “God with us.”

God born with us, God dying with us.

God standing with us, God walking with us.

God laughing with us, God crying with us.

God sharing our joy, God knowing our fear.

God encouraging us, God admonishing us.

When we triumph and when we fail.

When pain consumes us.

When the world drives us to exhaustion.

When we are forgotten.

When all is still.

With all of us, now and always.

Prayer

God, remind us of the name Isaiah spoke, and let us cling to it in this season and throughout the year — in our need and in our plenty, in our joy and in our pain, in moments when we feel engulfed by your embrace and when we cannot sense you at all. Amen.