Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

Soaked in God's Word, Sprouting Seeds of Faith

My Debt is Paid: A Christmas Story

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My last Christmas at home. I wasn’t sad or bittersweet…I was over the top excited! I would be getting married in six months, and would spend the following Christmases with my new husband. Who could ask for anything more?

I loved Christmas mornings at Mama and Daddy’s. It was always a free-for-all. Everyone opened their gifts at the same time. Shouts of “Aw, thanks! Just what I wanted” or “What IS it?” filled the room. It was no different that Christmas morning. Wild and crazy excitement filled the air. Except when I got to one particular gift. Everything and everyone quieted down.

I ripped into the wrapping paper, and found – a cereal box! Mama was always like that. Wrapping our gifts in whatever box she found. I couldn’t imagine what was inside that plain ole box. For all I knew, it could have been cereal!

But it wasn’t. It was an envelope, with a piece of paper folded up inside. I carefully opened the paper, to find the title to my car. Mama and Daddy had not wanted me to go into this marriage with an outstanding loan. They had paid off the remaining few months of my car note. They had paid my debt.

Tears of gratitude streamed down my face. I tried to say thank you, but the lump in my throat kept the words inside. They loved me so much, they paid my debt. It was the greatest gift they could have given me.

 

There was another gift given long, long ago. No fanfare or fancy wrapping. Just a baby in a stable, wrapped in dirty cloths. God’s Son. The Messiah. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus.

  • How often do we squeal with delight at the gifts under the tree, but forget the tree at Calvary?
  • How often do we see the red of the Christmas season, but forget His blood that was shed?
  • How often are we brought to tears of thankfulness for the greatest gift God gave…His Son Jesus, paying our debt of sin?

My prayer this Christmas, and every day, is that we would be like the shepherds, after seeing Baby Jesus.

Luke 2:20 “And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”

Merry Christmas!
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Do you know Jesus?

Bible bites: Going Home and Coming Home, Exodus and Ezra

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This month is the start of the holiday season, where food abounds! So, we’ll be talking tasty tidbits from scripture. You know those little bites of deliciousness that you can nibble on all day. Little bites, small but meaty and oh so good for your soul.

Today we’ll be talking about going home and coming home. Let’s begin in Exodus.

“I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3:21-22 NASB

God knew Pharaoh wouldn’t let the Hebrew people go easily. Pharaoh wouldn’t give them anything for their journey home, either. He was a meanie! But God! He provided for His people. The material the Israelites plundered and carried out of Egypt became part of what they used to construct the tabernacle. God sent them on their way with building supplies. 

I image the Egyptians were happy to provide what was needed. After all, they’d been subject to God’s plagues: Bloody water, frogs, gnats, flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail and fire, locusts, darkness and finally the unthinkable-death of the first born child in each family. Horrors! I would’ve kicked them out too! Get out! And don’t come back!

Next, we have the Israeli exiles returning from Babylon. They had been captives for 70 years. Slaves in servitude, like their forefathers in Egypt. After 70 years, God stirred the heart of King Cyrus to allow the exiles to go home and rebuild. 

Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed long ago when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city and surrounding area. The Hebrew people would be freed slaves, traveling with nothing, going home to nothing. Zilch. Zero.

But God. 

“‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’ All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods;” Ezra 1:4, 6-7 NASB

God provided, so His people could come home and rebuild His temple. Going and coming, building or rebuilding, God will provide all you need. Amen and amen!

What a beautiful story of God’s faithfulness!