Nativity Psalms

 

 

Nativity Psalms

I have thoroughly enjoyed these weeks leading up to the Celebration of Christmas, 2025, even as I have completed a cycle of seven stories told about God’s intervention in the lives of Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the Shepherds, Simeon and Anna, and the Wise Men, on behalf of all the people of the world for all time.  Now, I am left with the question, what do these divine encounters have to say to me? In my heart I have to believe God is not finished with me yet. He still has His redemptive Work He wants to accomplish through me. So,  I intend to revisit each story in the form of a modern-day psalm as I  ask the Holy Spirit to speak God’s challenge for me arising from His encounter with each of these unique people.  I pray He will use these humble words to also speak His truth for you.

God’s Call Upon A Life

The choice of God to put His call upon a life
at once reveals the power of His almighty Love
as His touch at once begins redeeming those
who heed, consider and respond to Him
who owns us all;  for it is He who makes us each
a bit of glory hidden cold behind the stone
until His deep commanding call comes clear
so we who hear must rise up, walk out into the
 the blazing, resurrecting Love who weeps for us
until we rise and answer Him with obedience
we cannot give until we are awakened,
renewed, inspired, and reborn into eternity.

Isaiah

Imagine the juxtaposition
of my looking upon God’s Holiness
in the midst of seraphim
declaring the Almighty’s
righteousness and glory lifted up
uncovering my own uncleanliness
 by my own unwholesome
words staining my filthy lips.

Imagine the Almighty placing
side-by-side upon His Holy Altar
my torn and sin-stained life
beside His Suffering Servant,
the hopeless sinner miraculously
cleansed by Him who had no blemish,
myself deserving justice
yet set free by His own mercy.

Imagine such magnificent grace
providing me such a voice standing
before great priests and kings
declaring the Almighty’s
Truth and His Judgment upon
the mighty who soiled themselves in
the filth of this sinful earth
until bowing down, they worshipped Him.

Mary

I do not recall a day when my heart
did not sing my praise to our Heavenly
Father . . . His Love brought joy to me
as I joined the morning birds raising
their songs, as I went about my chores
visiting the well or the market stalls
or feeding our animals or helping by
watching my sisters and my brothers—
but my heart learned a deeper,
a whole new kind of song when
the angel gave me God’s News, that
Our Savior should be born, of me.
That such a privilege should come
to me, a mere maiden in this small town—
I am learning this miraculous truth:
God’s Love works mysteriously.

Joseph

My heart always stood firm on righteousness—
I mean it always seemed so clear to me as I
looked upon the  lives of our fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob; our great King David—
and so I truly thought I had found in this young
girl and her angelic, and it seemed, her holy
singing, a joy in our people’s love for our God
of righteousness, for she so rejoiced in this
life He gives for those He chooses, who in turn
choose to follow Him — and so I sought her
and was granted by her father the great honor
of our being betrothed to each other pure and holy
until we should be joined in marriage—
and so I felt blessed and happy—until I heard
the truth which seemed so unrighteous and yet
as it  turned out was so miraculous—Mary was
with child before we married—it seemed she had
been defiled and yet I thought I knew her heart—
in despair I was determined to quietly put her
away, to spare her life— but then God’s angel came
in a vision; I know our God was speaking—
this was His miraculous child, Mary retained
her innocence —I should marry and protect her
purity as she carried in her womb our Savior.

Elizabeth 

Together always, Zechariah
and myself side-by-side,
we felt so blessed; my dear husband
and his calling were always also mine.
It seems, our Mighty God
had set us aside to minister His Word
among His Chosen People,
 and though we did regret it that
 I bore no children,
we over the years moved on from that
with great joy in sharing the priestly task
my own Zechariah had been given;
we saw this as God’s supreme gift—
we rejoiced before Him together.
Imagine my surprise when
Zechariah  returned from the Temple
unable to speak a single word,
when he with grunts and signs
and a simple tablet
told me this shocking news:
An angel had appeared while
he was ministering
in the Holy of Holies:
I was to give birth.
At my age and his,
I was to give birth.
But here it was:
It was true.
Soon I was pregnant.
In my old age.
I rejoiced
in this gift from the Lord.
And when our son was born,
Zechariah named him John
even as the angel had said.
And my blessed husband
was given the gift of speech again.
And of course, He praised the Lord.

Daniel

I was not even a shepherd.
I was a shepherd-in-training.
I served under my grandfather, Abel,
our chief shepherd in Bethlehem,
and my father, Daniel, one of nine
shepherds who were training me.

In fact, I got really bored
and extremely sleepy
most nights, so I got
lots of scolding
from both my
father and my grandfather.

I was actually dozing
when the first angel
appeared that night.
But he shone so bright
I jumped up so quickly
I fell back down.

Then the angel spoke;
“Fear not!”
With that we all sat up.
The angel continued;
“I bring good news
of great joy.”

“Today in Bethlehem,
the City of David,
a Savior is born.
Here is a sign.
You will find
Him in a manger.”

Then He was surrounded
by thousands of angels,
and they thundered,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace
be upon His people.”

As fast as as we could
we ran into Bethlehem
and found the stable—
but the husband guarding
the door asked us
to come back in the morning.

Then we heard her voice,
the mother, almost like
an angel, scolding him,
sweetly inviting us in—
and as we saw Him,
our Messiah, we kneeled.

Joy burst out among us.
We broke out in praise.
We sang and we danced.
We shouted the news.
“Our Messiah has come.
Our Savior is born.”

Simeon

Bless His Holy Name.
Praise Him forever.
He backs up His Word.
His Promise is true.
Now, after all of these years
our Messiah has come,
and here in His Temple,
finally I have seen Him.

His blessed Spirit who
spoke deep in my heart
confirmed in His face
more beautiful than any
I ever saw—those eyes
so large, even then,
even as an infant,
looking so wise.

Oh, how happy I felt.
Such joy filled my heart.
How hope filled my mind.
What peace filled my soul.
With these hands I raise
my praise to His Name,
who deserves my worship
and all of my heart.

And what I know, I know.
Here in my arms is the One.
I hold so close to my heart
my Savior, our Lord.
I bless His Name
over and over again.
I praise Him, for His
Promise is true.

And yet I see a shadow,
somehow history
will show, many will rise
and reject this Holy One.
All will be troubled,
especially this dear mother,
for all God has offered
in Him, many will reject.

A Magi

All our lives
we searched the heavens
for answers
to the questions
in our hearts and minds.

And then we
saw the Star, now we
know as His Star,
and we knew we
must search and find Him.

So, we crossed
deserts and mountains,
always as
His Star led us
towards Israel.

Once we knew
the place we assumed
we would find
the mighty One
in Jerusalem.

But we were
troubled by Herod’s
darkened heart
and his shadowy
declarations.

But then we
knew His Star would lead
us to our
Great King in
Bethlehem.

There we found
Him, worshiped Him and
presented Him
gifts—the King of
Kings for the Earth.