December 1st

Isaiah 11 (NCV)

The King of Peace Is Coming

11 A new branch will grow

    from a stump of a tree;

so a new king will come

    from the family of Jesse.

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon that king.

    The Spirit will give him wisdom and understanding, guidance and power.

    The Spirit will teach him to know and respect the Lord.

3 This king will be glad to obey the Lord.

He will not judge by the way things look

    or decide by what he hears.

4 But he will judge the poor honestly;

    he will be fair in his decisions for the poor people of the land.

At his command evil people will be punished,

    and by his words the wicked will be put to death.

5 Goodness and fairness will give him strength,

    like a belt around his waist.

6 Then wolves will live in peace with lambs,

    and leopards will lie down to rest with goats.

Calves, lions, and young bulls will eat together,

    and a little child will lead them.

Imagine with me a tree.  A tree so big and so gloriously leafy and full that the great sycamore tree looks up at it and thinks “When I grow up, I want to be like that tree”.  It has many twisty beautiful branches and leaves in every color of fall…golden and bright green, orange and red. Can you see it? This is the Tree of Jesse, the famous family tree of the great King David’s dad. This tree grew around the story of God and God’s people. This family tree included men and women, heroes and cowards, the greatest and the least of the world. This tree would say to the world through its beauty and bounty that “this family is special, chosen by God to be his people”.  The family is proud of this tree and proud to be God’s people.  They are proud and honored to serve God and worship their God, their “I AM”, as the one and only God.  They know that God is so great and holy and powerful that even saying the name of God, Yaweh, holds such power that we should never say it lightly or jokingly, in fact, just don’t say it at all.  Call God Adonai (master) or Elohim (Lord) for mankind surely isn’t worthy to say the true name of God.  

Yes, they were the family of Jesse and they were proud to be God’s people…until they weren’t.  It didn’t happen overnight.  It happened one day as one family member looked at the tree and shrugged and thought “Eh, so what? What’s the big deal?”.  He had heard the stories passed down through the family tree, the stories of God’s people, God’s rescue, God’s strength, help and mercy for so long, that he had forgotten it was real, he had forgotten it was his story, the story of God’s love for him. To him it was just an old story. He looked at the world around him, at the hustle and bustle and the kings and queens, the excitement and the wild and unpredictable Gods that they worshipped, and he walked away from his tree, the sacred tree of Jesse, and he chose to become a part of world that worshipped money, pleasure, sin and many, many other God’s of their own creation… and the first leaf of that great tree fell to the ground.

Eventually more and more of Jesse’s family would forget who they were.  Forget they were chosen.  Forget they were God’s and walk away from the tree.  And with each choice of the world over God, another leaf fell, another twig snapped another branch creaked and fell broken to the ground until God’s tree and God’s people were hardly recognizable.  Beaten down and used by the world they had chosen, God’s people had lost sight of what made them beautiful and special (the very same thing that makes you special)…God’s love for them.  The love that could move mountains, slay giants and turn little boys into great kings.  

But that old tree, that was now just a worn out stump, wasn’t finished yet, because God hadn’t given up on His people.  He had made a promise long, long ago that they would be His people and He would be their God, and God ALWAYS keeps God’s promises.  And out of nothing more than a promise and a glimmer of hope grew a tiny little twig, a small little shoot from the side of that old stump.  That twig meant something important.  It meant God NEVER gives up on His people.  And so, a new story of God’s people began.  A new chapter that would bring life back to an old promise.  This chapter would become our story.

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you think God felt when His people chose the ways of the world and sin over His love and being God’s people?

2.  Together, talk about some ways that you can choose God over the ways of the world.

Family Activity: Decorate your ornament for day one. We are all a part of God’s story and part of that story are the families God has given us.  As you color, can you think of a story from your family that makes you happy or proud?  Share that story with your family.

Prayer for the World:  Pray that the Father would do mighty works among the “Princely People” to prove his love and supremacy.  (Matt. 11:20-21)