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What are you grieving this Christmas? What makes you anxious as you approach the year’s end? Christmas may be a time of joy, but the gaps in our joy become all the clearer for that. In your discomfort and pain, where do you look for solace? 

During a dark period of political oppression, Simeon awaited the consolation of Israel, the Messiah whom God had promised he would someday see. Anna had lost her husband far too early; in the temple, she drew daily comfort from the presence of God and his people. They waited and worshiped, day after day after day. Maybe you’re there too—grieving, waiting.

The wait ends well. One day, their comfort came.

Charles Wesley describes Jesus as the “joy of heav’n to earth come down.” He was heaven’s own, heaven’s heart, yet he set aside the comforts of heaven to make his joy ours. Simeon welcomed this joy into his arms. Anna spoke of him, comforting God’s people in Jerusalem. Their lives had found their center.

If, like Simeon, you have taken hold of Jesus, embracing him as your joy, you can be assured that Jesus is holding on to you. The Heidelberg Catechism says that your only comfort is that you belong, body and soul, to him. No earthly love, possession, accomplishment, or experience can bring such lasting consolation.

As you wait and worship, celebrate and grieve this Christmas, be comforted. The Joy of Heaven came to earth to seek you out. He will not let you go.

—Amanda Martin, editor, My Only Comfort