“While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:6-7
God never wastes our tears, trials or triumphs. The guiding hand of His perfect purpose is always at work. When you cannot see His hand, trust His word. The Father’s loving direction, protection and correction are often seen clearly through your rear-view mirror, never through your crystal ball.
“While they were there” is a phrase that marks the junction between The Providence of God and man’s obedience to God. These words remind me of a great Oswald Chambers quote.
“Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray.”
Mary and Joseph’s lives were in the hands of God, but persistent, personal, private prayer kept their hearts tender to His touch. Prayer brings a perspective to pain and privation that only God’s Spirit can provide. Like salve to your soul, prayer keeps your heart from being hardened and stiffened by the process of being conformed to God’s will. Remember! Blessed are the flexible.
The hardships the earthly parent’s of Jesus experienced by relocating to Bethlehem were not orchestrated by God to inconvenience them, or to test them. They had already been tested. Now Mary and Joseph were being trusted. Big difference.
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:4-6
“When the fullness of the time” may be one of the most poetic uses of language ever to roll off the tongue of man. It is certainly one of the most powerful expressions of the mind of God.
God, The Creator, refuses to be rushed, bullied or panicked into conforming His will to any man-made schedule. As hard as it is to accept, The Father intends to conform His children to His will, not their own. Believe it. Mary and Joseph did, and the world is a better place because they did.
Pax Romana describes the world in which Jesus was born. Under Roman rule, the seas were swept clear of pirates. The Roman roads were guarded and safe to travel. A common language united the nations of the world. Throughout the empire there was a spiritual bankruptcy that created a vacuum in the hearts of people that only Jesus could fill.
When Paul wrote to the Church of Galatia, PAX ROMANA provided the setting in which The Gospel could be spread around the world. Long before the world wide web, God had prepared the way to spread His story of redemption.
In spite of the upside, there was a downside to “The fullness of the time.” Millions of people were enslaved. Nations had been either obliterated or absorbed under the iron fist of Rome. Life was cheap, and evil was abundant. From the perspective of God’s prophetic Word, everything was right on schedule. Hard to believe, but true.
God’s sending of His son to be born of a virgin had been prophesied long before it happened in Bethlehem. Still, it took an obscure, praying couple to be in the right place at the right time to usher onto the scene of human history, Jesus, The Redeemer.
Unnoticed by those in power in Rome, the cry of a baby in a Bethlehem manger was heard in Heaven. His tiny voice was the forerunner of the cries of billions who would be redeemed. Adopted into the family of God and given the right to be called sons, they would cry out to God by His Spirit, “Abba! Father!”
NOTE TO SELF: Where are you? If God seems far away, guess who moved? Pray your way back to that place where you once heard His voice and obeyed Him the first time you heard it. Being right with God means being in touch with Him right where you are. “While they were there,” Mary and Joseph met God. You will too.
TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!
“The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer.”
Oswald Chambers