“I Love a Good Preposition!”
December 9, 2021
The year 2020 reminded me of how much I love a good preposition! For sure it was a very difficult year and probably no one needs to be reminded of that. The world experienced great difficulty from a global pandemic, to national protests, and toilet paper supply panic! As a result, many may have questioned, “Where was God?”
The answer to that question is found in Matthew 1:23, and it is a comforting answer for every year, not just 2020. This verse declares a great truth that brought a soothing assurance to Joseph when he first heard it on the heels of the difficult news that his betrothed, Mary, was pregnant.
I was not always excited, as an elementary student, to sing the song about the 48 prepositions. Do you remember those little terms that expressed the relationship between one word and another? For example, “The birds flew above my head, around my head, below my head.” However, the longer I read the Word of God, the more I have come to appreciate the grammar lessons of my early school days, especially the grammar lessons about prepositions.
In Matthew 1:23 there is a preposition we should all get excited about every Christmas because it brings a comforting perspective to our difficult seasons. The preposition “with” answers our question, “Where was God?” In our times of great difficulty, God is “with” us. He is not “against” us, away “from” us, or “beyond” us. Rather, every Christmas, no matter the year, we are reminded that God is “with” us.
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us).”(Matthew 1:23)
It is interesting to note that Matthew stresses that God is with us in the beginning of his Gospel (1:23) and again at the end of his gospel in Matthew 28:20. It feels like a huge hug from our Heavenly Father:
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Do you see why I love a good preposition? Who would have thought that a tiny part of speech could bring such comfort to Joseph long ago and to us now? Where was God in 2020 or in any dark year we may have experienced before or since? He was, and still is, “with” us!