Category: 12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Twelfth day of Christmas

cross

And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. (Genesis 29:35)

Judah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for “praise.”

Yes, I know, Judah was the fourth of Jacob’s 12 sons. But considering that it was through Judah that Jesus came, it seems appropriate to end this way.

With the birth of Judah, for a short time anyway, Leah took her eyes off her misery and stopped trying to fill the hole in her heart with Jacob. Instead, she turned her heart to God in worship.

So this year, let us do Leah did. Not just for a day, or a week, or a month. But every day, let’s lead our hearts, taking our eyes off of ourselves and our troubles and instead look to Jesus, saying each and every morning, “Today, today, I choose to praise the Lord.”

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Eleventh day of Christmas

ascension
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When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.”

With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin. (Genesis 35:16-18)

Ben-oni means “son of my sorrow,” while Benjamin means “son of my right hand.”

Both terms can be applied to Jesus.

Isaiah said of Jesus,

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… (Isaiah 53:3, ESV)

And yet, after the cross,

[God] raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:20-21)

Son of sorrows. Son at the Father’s right hand.

Let us worship him!

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Tenth day of Christmas

grace

Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” She named him Joseph and said, “May the Lord add another son to me.” (Genesis 30:22-24)

Joseph sound like the Hebrew for “he has taken away” but means “he adds.”

Just as God took way Rachel’s disgrace by giving her a son, he took away the disgrace of our sin by giving us his Son to die on the cross for our sins.

And now because of Jesus, he adds to us grace upon grace upon grace each and every day.

And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness. (John 1:16)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Ninth day of Christmas

crown

Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. “God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun. (Genesis 30:19-20)

The name Zebulun sounds like the Hebrew word for “honored.”

No matter what we do, we may never receive the honor from people that we desire. Despite Leah having given Jacob six sons, we see no hint that Jacob ever did honor her as he did Rachel.

But God has now crowned us who believe in Jesus with glory and honor. Not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us.

What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him? You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor and subjected everything under his feet…As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.

But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—for whom and through whom all things exist—should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:6-10)

As Paul would add in another letter,

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Eighth day of Christmas

gift

God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar. (Genesis 30:17-18)

Issachar sounds like the Hebrew word for “reward” or “wages.”

It’s highly doubtful that God was rewarding Leah for giving her slave to Jacob to sleep with. But the problem with sin is that it deceives us into thinking that it’s giving us something good. It may even claim God is the one giving you the good.

How much better to receive the free gift of God that comes through Jesus.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Seventh day of Christmas

Anna
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When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher. (Genesis 30:12-13)

The name Asher means “happy.”

Leah, in trying to fill the hole in her heart, allowed her slave to sleep with Jacob. By doing so, she found “happiness.” And yet, by verse 20, you see her still trying to fill that hole in her heart with Jacob’s love.

But hundreds of years later, a descendant of Asher would learn where true happiness is found. In Luke 2:36-38, we see the story of Anna. Anna lost her husband after only seven years of marriage. But for the rest of her life, she sought God day and night. And ultimately, her hole was filled when she saw Jesus for the first time.

At that very moment, [Anna] came up and began to thank God and to speak about [Jesus] to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Sixth day of Christmas

blessings

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad. (Genesis 30:9-11)

The name Gad means “good fortune.”

Children are indeed a blessing from God. But what price did Leah have to pay in order to receive her “good fortune.” Was it really worth now having to share her husband with a fourth woman?

Let us not seek that kind of “good fortune.” Instead, let us seek the blessings that come in Christ. The awesome thing about those blessings? The price for them was already paid for us on the cross.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Fifth day of Christmas

broken relationships

Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali. (Genesis 30:7-8)

The name Naphtali sounds like the Hebrew for, “my wrestlings.”

How often do we wrestle others for things that can never fill the hole in our hearts? That’s what Rachel did in wrestling with Leah for the love of Jacob. But the sad thing is, all our wrestling will leave us empty. Only God can fill that hole. Let us seek the Giver over the gifts.

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:1-3)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Fourth day of Christmas

favel

Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan. (Genesis 30:6)

Rachel had her husband stolen by Leah on her wedding night. Worse, though Jacob now had married her too and clearly favored her over Leah, Rachel had no children, while Leah had four. So she gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob to sleep with, and the children born to her were counted as Rachel’s children.

Dan sounds like the Hebrew word for “judged” or “vindicated.”

It’s highly doubtful that God was taking sides between Rachel and Leah. But one thing that’s clear is that for us who have put our faith in Jesus: God is definitely on our side.

Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. (Romans 8:33-34)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Third day of Christmas

hugging couple

[Leah] conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him.” Therefore he was named Levi. (Genesis 29:34)

The name Levi sounds like the Hebrew word for “attached.”

Leah longed for attachment, for love.

Many today seek that kind of attachment and love.

And that’s what God has given us in his Son.

At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:12-13)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

Second day of Christmas

depression

[Leah] conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “The Lord heard that I am neglected and has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. (Genesis 29:33)

The name Simeon sounds like the Hebrew word for “heard.”

Leah was unloved by Jacob. She was neglected, broken, and hurting.

But God heard Leah’s cries. And in the same way, he hears the cries of all who love him.

Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. (Revelation 8:3-4)

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry for help…

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is near the brokenhearted;
he saves those crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:15, 17-18)

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12 Days of Christmas Devotionals

First day of Christmas

Jesus' birth
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Merry Christmas all!

Starting today, I will be doing a special Christmas meditation for the 12 days of Christmas. These are based on a message I gave at my church recently, which you can hear here.

In it, I basically took the names of Jacob’s 12 sons, names born largely out of the pain of Rachel and Leah, and reinterpreted their meanings in light of Christmas, and God’s message toward us.

Today, Reuben.

When the Lord saw that Leah was neglected, he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive. Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.” (Genesis 29:31-32)

The name Reuben means, “See, a son.”

It seems Leah was crying out to Jacob, “See, I’ve given you a son. Love me!”

But now God looks down at us, and says, “See, my Son! I do love you.”

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)