Delivered from Every Trouble

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2025 | FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS YEAR A
Delivered from Every Trouble
Isaiah 63:7–14 | Gradual | Galatians 4:4–7 | Matthew 2:13–23
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Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the 1954 Christmas Film, White Christmas — one that my family and I watch every year — Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney encourage us in song to face sleepless worry-filled nights in this way:

If you’re worried and you can’t sleep Just count your blessings instead of sheep And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings

Like many pop-culture notions, the idea of counting your blessings seems, cliche and a little less than helpful. I mean, if my worries are the proverbial first-world problems, which is to say, they aren’t really that big of a deal to begin with…then maybe counting your blessing instead of sheep will work. And of course, in our wimpy and narcissistic society, we could all use some encouragement to get over ourselves and remember that life isn’t always a disaster. To be fair, White Christmas was certainly a post-war film, released just about a decade after the end World War II. So, in light of how bad things had been for so many…maybe the run of the mill challenges that people faced could be addressed by a little change of perspective. It could, after all, be worse.

But then again, there are plenty of real and painful realities that people everywhere face. And they are the types of pains and struggles and suffering that don’t just go away and get all better by looking on the bright side of life.

For friends who are plagued by deadly and debilitating diseases or whose bodies are otherwise failing them; for those who are mourning the loss of a loved one who has been stolen away by our last enemy, death. For people around the world who live in fear as their lives are daily threatened by war, persecution, and violence. For those suffering anguish for the very real shame and trauma of life as a sinner in this broken world. For all these, the whole idea of counting your blessings seems an offense to the reality of their suffering. It feels like a trite platitude offered by those who don’t want to deal with the deeper reality of pain.

And yet, on this first Sunday after Christmas, we are given this reading from Isaiah, chapter 63. And it seems like the prophet is doing just what Bing and Rosemary have told us to do. Counting our blessings.

The prophet Isaiah says, “I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. ” (Isaiah 63:7)

The prophet says, let’s review. Let’s remember. Let’s recount the goodness and mercy and love of God toward us. And lest we think that the prophet is naive, remember that he writes at the time of trouble for the kings of Judah. He writes as the Assyrian empire is raging and preparing to overtake and brutalize the northern Kingdom. And the threat of the Assyrians comes to the gates of Jerusalem as well. And Isaiah foresees the exile. He foresees the final collapse and carrying away of God’s people. He speaks prophetically, not just to those who are facing a threat, but also to those who have been defeated by their enemies and who are left with nothing.

And to them the prophet says,

“I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD…”

But why? Why count your blessings when they’re all gone? Why remember what God has done for you in the past, when it seems like He has turned away from you in the present?

That’s the situation that God’s exiled people find themselves in. They look around and see that Jerusalem has fallen. The good old days are long gone. The glory of the Lord has departed from them.

And Isaiah tells us why: [the people] rebelled [against God] and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.  (Isaiah 63:8, 10)

Why recount all this? Why rehearse it? Well, first to remind to remind you that the brokenness of this world and the brokenness of our lives…this is the natural and direct consequence of sin. Beginning in the Garden, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, all humanity has faced this. We have faced the real and heavy suffering of a world under a curse. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.

The people of Israel, who had been redeemed and reclaimed by God out of slavery in Egypt…who had been given a covenant to live by in the promised land…who had received from the hand of the Lord all manner of good things. They lost it all. Why? Because they turned against God. They turned to idols. They turned to the patterns of the people and world around them. They made a mockery of the one true God by their wicked thoughts, words, and deeds. Instead of love, their lives were marked by selfishness and lust and violence. And so the Lord withdrew His blessings and allowed them to know His judgement. The natural, normal, and direct consequence of their sin.

But all this is Law. We recount the Law and our sins against it to disabuse ourselves of any false notions that we are being treated unfairly. It is the least honest, and least Christian thing we can do if we try to blame God or anyone other than ourselves for the evil and injustice in this world.

And so we recount the Law, which leaves us in a sorry state. Because helpless and hopeless is exactly what we deserve.

…

But then, into our helpless and hopeless situation, into this broken world, comes the Savior. Isaiah writes, with prophetic vision that goes beyond even his own understanding. He sees that [God] became their Savior. [And] in all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and [he] carried them. (Isaiah 63:8-9)

And isn’t that a beautiful picture of what God has done for us in Christ. For us and for all people. He became our Savior. To save us, He had to become one of us.

As Paul writes in Galatians:

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

He became our Savior. And He was afflicted.

Remember my criticism of that cliche admonition:

If you’re worried and you can’t sleep Just count your blessings instead of sheep And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings

It feels like a trite platitude offered by those who don’t want to deal with the deeper reality of pain.

But this is not the case with our God. He who commands us to remember His goodness and mercy and love is also the one who has come into our flesh and been afflicted by our afflictions.

The apostle Peter, in fact, makes this a theme of his epistles. When we face suffering He reminds us that Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

He became our Savior. He was afflicted for us. And He carries us. He is not only with us in this suffering under the curse of sin, but He finally and ultimately takes it, all of it. It is His burden to bear as the new Adam, the new Head of our human family.

And bear it, He does. Throughout His earthly life and ministry He bore the burden of this broken world. From the day when He fled King Herod’s murderous rage, all the way up to the day He was scourged and beaten and shamed and mocked and pierced with nails and spear. All the days of His earthly life He bore the curse and suffered.

And all this He did that you would no longer be slaves, but sons.

Here’s the miracle of God’s grace: Though all of us have turned against Him and become His enemies. And though He does, for a time, withdraw His hand of blessings from us, as any good Father disciplines the children He loves.

Yet still, He remains faithful and steadfast in His love.

And so dear Christian,

If you’re worried and you can’t sleep Count your blessings.

Don’t let worry overtake you, but count the blessings you receive this day.

1. You are baptized. God has made you His own and pledged His faithfulness to you in the Water and the Word.

2. You are forgiven. God has given His son to die for all your sins. So there is no more condemnation for you.

3. You are welcomed to His table. He calls you this day to come and to receive His true body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.

4. All this is a foretaste of the feast that is to come. So that while it is true that you will suffer a little bit as you remain in this broken world, yet the best days are yet to come. When Christ returns and the dead are raised, and the whole creation is made new. Then these dark days will be small and insignificant compared to the glory revealed to us.

And let these blessings fill you up with joy and courage even on your darkest days. For by faith in Christ, who has become your Savior, and who was afflicted for your sake, and who carries you from this life into the next, in Him, you will finally be delivered from every trouble. And so we say with all God’s people, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

Now the Peace of God, which surpasses understanding, guard your hearts and minds in the one true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.