Joyeux Noel

Psalm 4
1Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach?
How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.
3But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself;
The LORD hears when I call to Him.
4Tremble, and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And trust in the LORD.
6Many are saying, "Who will show us any good?"
Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!
7You have put gladness in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine abound.
8In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.

I just finished my second annual Christmas Eve tradition of staying up far too late watching a movie. This year it was a film called Joyeux Noel (French for Merry Christmas). It is an incredibly powerful, semi-fictional account of the historical events of Christmas Eve, 1914, when the Scottish, French, and German lines called a cease-fire and fraternized with each other for that entire night and the day of Christmas following. Ten minutes into the film, I wanted to cry. When I realized I was only halfway through the film, I almost stopped watching. When I finished the film, I did cry. The stupidity of war (particular the so-called "Great War") and the pain and suffering and separation that comes with it was countered so perfectly by the undying hope and love that is shared globally on Christmas as shown in Joyeux Noel, and I could not help but to be reminded the whole way through the movie of my blessedness to be free from such death and despair both literally and spiritually.

Psalm 4 is a distress signal, a white flag raised in the hopes of grace. It is a plea for the waiting to end and the punishment of our trespasses to rain down, and it is a curse on those who have harmed us, as well. It reminds us to fear the Lord and to walk in His statutes. It asks that question on the back of everyone's mind: Who will show us any good? Is humanity even capable of good?

On Christmas we celebrate the answer to Psalm 4. Two millennium ago, the very Son of God was born as a human baby. He did not come to smite the wicked. He did not come to reward the righteous. He did not come to bring peace to the world. He did not come to do anything special in the minds of men. He came merely to live and to die. But He came to do so perfectly. In His perfect life and perfect death, that God who took on the imperfection of human flesh did something no human could: He provided a way back to His arms. It is there that we will find peace. It is there that we will find grace. It is there that suffering is turned to joy and there that death dies. It is there that we find the true meaning of love. It is there, in the arms of God, that we find out what goodness is.

It began on that first Christmas.
Joyeux Noel.

-Nic