These reflections are adapted from Jesus, The Refugee King: Embracing the Marginalized and Displaced, an Advent resource created by Covenant World Relief & Development.
Hope often begins quietly—sometimes long before we notice it. It starts in the moment we realize we cannot stay where we are. Abraham’s story begins our Advent journey in that space. The text describes him as a “sojourner and exile,” called away from the familiar into a land he had never seen.
His journey begins with a summons—and a choice.
It’s easy to imagine Abraham standing outside his home for the last time. Maybe he lingered. Maybe he looked back at the land where he first learned to walk, at the faces of neighbors who knew his name, at things he could hold and count and lean on. Hope rarely feels like triumph. More often, it feels like heartbreak mixed with a strange ache that says, It’s time to go.
The devotional reminds us that Abraham’s experience mirrors the reality of many refugees today. People like Zara, a young mother who fled Syria with her children, arrived exhausted on the shores of Greece with no idea what waited for her next. Hope doesn’t erase fear. But it refuses to let fear have the final word.
When Zara stepped off the boat, her story paused in uncertainty. Then volunteers met her with shelter, food, and rest. That moment did not fix everything, but it steadied her long enough to take another step, and another. Her life, like Abraham’s, reveals that hope grows slowly, through trust and small mercies.
Advent reminds us that God often begins our redemption in the wilderness—before we see the map, before we see the promise fulfilled. Abraham’s faith wasn’t a grand gesture. It was the daily decision to keep walking when the scenery didn’t yet match the promise.
Most of us know what it feels like to be in between. We have experienced seasons when the past is closed, but the future hasn’t opened yet. Sometimes we’re called into new places by choice; other times, life pushes us there. Either way, the first candle of Advent reminds us that God meets us at the beginning of the journey.
Abraham’s story invites us to name the places where we are being called to trust again. Maybe it’s a relationship that needs courage. Maybe it’s a change we didn’t ask for. Maybe it’s finally moving toward a dream we abandoned because it seemed impossible. Hope is not a feeling—it’s the willingness to begin again.
Like Abraham, we may not know the destination. But Advent assures us that God goes ahead of us, walks beside us, and waits for us in every unfamiliar place we enter. Hope grows in the discomfort, the courage, the obedience, the quiet yes.
Jesus, The Refugee King is an Advent resource from Covenant World Relief & Development that journeys through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, exploring the stories of individuals who faced exile, displacement, and marginalization.
