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Welcome to our second week of Advent AND our second Bible verse that we get to memorize together! 

This week’s Bible verse comes from the book of John. John was one of Jesus’s disciples and he wrote the letter of John to tell about who Jesus was and what He had done. This verse is longer than our last one, but it has some really cool things about it that I don’t want us to miss! 

John is trying to explain who Jesus was and in verse 14 he says, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” What does that mean? Well the Word, is Jesus. So John is saying that Jesus came and dwelt, or lived among us. God sent Jesus into this world and Jesus lived like me and you.

John goes on to say, “and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.” 

Remember, John was one of Jesus’s disciples, so He knew Jesus personally, he ate with Him and talked with Him and learned from Him. John saw Jesus with his own eyes! John writes this down to help others understand that Jesus really was God’s son, He really did come and live, and He really was who He said He was!

“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

I know this week’s verse is longer than last weeks, but it’s a REALLY good one! Try reading the verse a few different times and repeat as you go. Imagine John is writing this to help people who didn’t know Jesus understand just how important He really was.

He says, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.”

Now break the verse down into 3 parts:

PART 1: “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,”

PART 2: “and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father,”

PART 3: “full of grace and truth.”

Practice reciting the verse broken into the three different parts. I know that verse is long, but it’s also beautiful. John has SEEN Jesus, and He couldn’t help but share that with others. We too can see God when we look for Him. We may not see him face to face like John did, but we can see him in our friends or family, we can see Him in beautiful sunsets or sunrises, we can even see Him in hard moments. He is still Emanuel, God with us, and our verse for this week is written to remind us of that VERY good news!

Have there been times in your life where you just didn’t understand what was going on? Where you found yourself asking why things were happening, and you couldn’t see how to make sense of it all?  I can remember a specific time when I found myself asking “what in the world is happening!” It was my 13th birthday and all day long my friends at school were being shifty and weird, not making eye contact and avoiding all real conversations with me… and it was my birthday! You can probably predict the end of the story here, but my 13 year old self surely could not. You see, there was something else going on, there were things I didn't SEE. My mom had planned a huge surprise party for me right after school and all my friends were just trying to keep it together and not ruin the surprise!!!! They weren’t trying to avoid me or ignore me, they wanted me to have the best birthday EVER and were doing what they thought was best! 

This is just a small picture of a much deeper question we may find ourselves wrestling with. Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering what God is doing in your life, in the lives of your friends and family, or in the world around you. I can only imagine that Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus, were having these kinds of thoughts as their story unfolded. In fact just read Luke 1:26-35. In verse 29, scripture tells us Mary was “confused and disturbed, and tried to think what the angel could mean” after the angel Gabriel showed up on the scene and told her she was “favored”. We naturally struggle to see the wonder of God’s goodness and the wonder of his way in our lives. Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” She asks a real question in the midst of trying to understand and trust what God was really doing after Gabriel delivers the news that she was going to have a baby! 

We don’t typically ask questions about what we already understand, and this idea comes into play in Psalm 119:18 where the psalmist offers an honest prayer, asking God to show him the goodness of His ways…

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." - Psalm 119:18 

In other words, God, there are incredible things about who you are that I can’t SEE.Would you open my eyes to behold the wonders of your goodness and the wonders of your ways for my life, so that my heart would be stirred to love you and live in your ways!

When we can’t see, or understand, it is such an incredible gift that we can ask God for help to see. As we move through this advent season let’s ask God to help us SEE, not only the wonder of Jesus’s birth, but how His presence helps show us the goodness of God’s intentions for our lives and for the world!

Where are some places in your life you can SEE God’s goodness at work?

Are there any places you struggle to SEE God’s goodness at work in your life?

Take a moment to write down your thoughts, then spend time thanking God for how you see Him at work and asking for His help in the places you struggle to SEE his goodness!

"O Lord, open our eyes to behold the wonders of Your intention."

Psalm 119:18 (ESV) Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 

During these hectic December days, it's easy to lose sight of the profound mystery we're preparing to celebrate. We rush from store to store, check off our to-do lists, and attend countless holiday gatherings. But in the midst of all this activity, are we truly seeing the wonders of God's intention? The psalmist's prayer echoes our own need: "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things." Like a child with their face pressed against a frosted window, we strain to see the beauty beyond. But sometimes, the fog of our daily routines clouds our vision.

God's intention in sending His Son was nothing short of wonderful - a plan conceived before the foundation of the world, a rescue mission of cosmic proportions. From the very beginning, when sin first entered the world and fractured the perfect relationship between God and humanity, the Father had already set in motion His plan for redemption. This wasn't a hasty reaction to human failure, but a premeditated act of love. The Creator of the universe, with unfathomable humility, chose to enter His creation as a vulnerable baby. The One who spoke galaxies into existence limited Himself to the gurgles and cries of an infant. The hands that formed the mountains and carved out the seas became tiny fingers grasping for His mother's comfort. The Word, through whom all things were made, became flesh and made His dwelling among us. The infinite became finite, the eternal entered time, the invisible became visible. The God who is everywhere present chose to localize His presence in a specific time and place, in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the miracle of the Incarnation - God's love taking on human form, bridging the chasm between divinity and humanity.

When we truly behold the wonders of God's intention, our perspective shifts, and we begin to see the world through the lens of this astounding truth. The ordinary becomes extraordinary, infused with profound significance. A star in the night sky becomes more than a distant ball of gas - it becomes a signpost, guiding seekers to the newborn King. A humble feeding trough, meant for animals, becomes a throne cradling the Prince of Peace. Shepherds, often overlooked and marginalized in their society, become the recipients of angelic messages and the first witnesses to the greatest event in human history. 

And we, in all our human frailty, with all our flaws and failures, become the beloved children of God. The Incarnation reveals the lengths to which God will go to reconcile us to Himself. We are not distant subjects of a far-off deity, but cherished children welcomed into intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. The stable in Bethlehem declares that God is not content to leave us in our broken state, but enters into our mess to bring healing, hope, and transformation. This Advent, may we have eyes to see the wonder of Emmanuel - God with us. May we see His intention of love woven through every moment of our days, transforming the mundane into the miraculous.

Take a moment to reread today’s Scripture passage and then spend some time reflecting on the following questions:

Psalm 119:18 (ESV) Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 

• What wonderful things have you overlooked recently? How can you cultivate a greater awareness of His presence and purpose in your daily life this Advent season?