Disappointed? Let down? Shattered expectations? Brokenhearted?
There is HOPE!
Messiah didn’t come the first time as His people expected…
Israel wanted a King. They expected deliverance.
But it didn’t happen that way – and the people were disappointed, because they missed this part of the prophecy.
“With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.” (Micah 5:1)
THEN, Micah tells the people of the promise regarding the least of the villages of Israel, “From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel…” (5:2)
The first time the Promised One came, the Jewish people expected the RULER, but instead got a poor little Baby in a manger with a few shepherds who came to welcome Him into the world
But a time is coming when “He will arise and shepherd His flock…in the majesty of the name of the Lord…” (5:4)
Thomas Kinkade writes in his Advent devotional, Christ the Light of the World, “Because you live in a fallen world…you can more or less expect that things will go wrong…
And yet we serve a God who is in the business of setting things right…
We can expected that God will keep His promises – though not necessarily in the way we have in mind. That’s where faith comes in.
…If we keep our eyes and hearts open, we really can expect to meet Christ in the unfolding of the Advent and Christmas season. Not necessarily as we expected…but as He is…Immanuel…’God with us.'” (p. 27)