♫ O Come, O Come, Emmaaaaanuel... ♫
Hey. God-with-us. Come over here.
Do you see what I’m getting at?
Why are we asking God to come if He’s with us already?
Let’s break it down.
The basic message of this song is that God’s kids hope for and anticipate the second coming of Jesus.
The “O” in the song isn’t just us asking God for a favor. It represents the desperate need we have for Jesus in our lives; not just an add-on, and not even as just the center, but as the very drive and the baseline for everything we are.
I think most of us know by now that “Emmanuel” means “God with us.” That means He’s here, actively moving in our lives, at this very moment.
Every verse in that song that we mean when we sing it proves we recognize the power Jesus has to be a rescuer, protector, and SAVIOR. So we aren’t just asking Jesus to come. We’re asking Him to draw us even deeper into the freedom He won for us when He came to us the first time 2000 odd years ago.
In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says “You can be sure I’m with you always, till the end of time.” Hebrews 13:5 reminds us that God has said, “Never will I leave you nor forsake you.” And I hope we all know that when God says something, it’s not a cute little suggestion. It’s always a promise.
Let’s talk about prayer (I promise it ties into my point).
Prayer is about aligning ourselves with God’s kingdom, His will, His purposes, His character. It’s about being with God so we can be like Him so others will want to live for Him as well. Praying isn’t about calling God to “get down here!” It means we know that He knows that we know we have a great need for Him.
Having a relationship with a know-it-all is hard enough; having a relationship with Someone who literally knows everything, including what you want/need and what you’re going to say... That feels stupidly difficult sometimes. But we still acknowledge that God is the fulfillment of our needs/wants, and that He has the right to do whatever He wants because He’s God and we’re not.
So why do we sing “O come, God with us!” Because even though He is already with us, we know that everything in the world is not quite right yet. Things are still missing, and we feel the pull to search for whatever that is. So we wait and pray. We align ourselves with Him: “God, I believe You’re here, and I can’t wait until Jesus comes again! O Come, Emmanuel!”
He’s always here. He said He would be. The Coming Kingdom is being built right now, as you read this. It just doesn’t look like a castle or whatever. It’s every act God does through us, every moment we spend with him, and every change He makes in us that makes us more like Jesus that builds His Kingdom.
Don’t get all hung up on confusing things you come across when it comes to God stuff. It isn’t always either/or. Maybe God can be both/and too sometimes.
We wait for Him. And we have Him presently. God is with us. And He is yet to come.
Things like that are pretty hard to wrap our minds around. Good thing none of us are God.
BY: Ariana Matty
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