The angel said to Mary,“‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’” Luke 1:28
“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7
After an already exhausting, seemingly ill-timed journey, there was no place for them.
With weary body and emotions, I wonder if she questioned God. Life was not going as she had always dreamed. She was a pregnant, misunderstood (I’m sure) young woman, with no home to give birth to her child.
O favored one?! I assume she wondered at times, “Is this what favor looks like?” And yet, yes, here she was a part of an extraordinary plan of God that was unfolding just as an all-knowing God (Who can be trusted), who loved them, had planned.
No, it did not look like anyone on earth would have expected or would have planned it. But God…
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9
God certainly could have had a special place waiting to receive Mary and Joseph upon their arrival. In fact, that would be reasonable and rational to expect, but He had different plans. He was fulfilling perfect plans in His perfect love for us all. And He can be trusted, to love us well and take care of us and to be in control. His plans are greater, higher, and not always like ours.
May we find encouragement here. All of us who have experienced, are experiencing, or will experience the plan of God unfold in ways that are incomprehensible to us, may we trust in His perfect love and be held in His peace.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
Listening section:
-Lord, in what instances have I reacted and erupted in unbelief because you have not worked in the reasonable and rational ways that I have would have expected? I repent, and I choose to trust You in these areas and find peace.
-Where have I determined that I must not be on the right path because things aren’t unfolding the way I would have planned or I am being misunderstood or rejected, but it is absolutely where You are leading me?
-Would You, even now, show me how You see the circumstances that I don’t understand.
-Choose, resolve (make a decision) to trust Him. Write it out in the form of a prayer, and allow Him to speak into it.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
“‘for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.’” Luke 2:11-14
With love, Traci
