God Placed Himself in the Middle of Our Needs
Psalm 42:7 – “Deep calleth unto the deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me.”
A woman became pregnant during her engagement, but her condition was not caused by her fiance. (It was rumored to be a divine intervention). Her fiance really loved her but wanted to do right, which meant he had to break off the engagement to save face. Though it was his right to terminate this engagement, his love for her would not allow him to make a spectacle of her in her time of great alienation. He had figured a way to break it off privately so no one local would know, but this would only buy her a brief reprieve before she would begin bearing the marks of fallen woman, single abandoned mom, and a potential societal outcast. His conundrum, yes, still loving this woman at risk, yes, caused him to fold as a special counsel offered an alternative to his plan. The counsel's plan was risky but would at least keep his “wife to be” out of harms way. The special counsel convinced him to marry her immediately to eliminate suspicion of her pregnancy as being untimely, and move on with their life together. Done, it had become their secret (except for the knowledge of the pregnancy by a cousin).
As timing would have it, love would allow the purpose of this child in the womb to fade to gray (though the special counsel had admonished the young fiance and his new wife that this child was destined for unusual greatness). To add obscurity to the picture...The birth was kept completely out of local view by a mandated government required trip which had them travel away from their home town. Plans for the trip were so hasty that the couple failed to secure reputable lodging at the other end of their journey. This failure to plan, placed them smack dab in some makeshift overflow lodging that was only reserved for those of questionable repute (it was usually the lodging of the questionable outcast and needfully unnoticed).
The events of this monumental birth were only captured by the “normal” amazement of a small band of outcasts. Their claim that “Angels told us of this birth!” would only cause a brief stir among those who put little faith in the words of an outcast. To the outcasts, there would be the wonder of why a carpenter would be birthing his child as a shepherd and why this was so important that Angels would announce it to them of all people. …..Again?
Again. Yes … we have back tracked to Christmas again, and we are well on our way to Valentines Day or so it seems by the grandeur of the changes in the department stores. It seems taboo in our humanness to keep bringing up the past … “move on” … “get on with your lives until next year”. “There is so much more Bible to discuss” and “this Christmas story is found in just two of the Gospels” is the whining statements that I always hear from the peanut galleries filled with those who get easily bored with their God because of their nearsighted devotion.
This story keeps me amazed year after year and (at least in my life) will be my way back home each time my value is dashed against the “jutting rocks of uselessness” by the Dream Hater and his Hell-stench hoards. It paves the way to Calvary by gathering in all the beggarly elements that Christ would intertwine His life with in an indelible and undeniable identification with our needs. The greatest place for doubt is the greatest opportunity for faith … Think of all the contradictions of God's way in comparison to wisdom of the sages of this shallow world.
Instead of positioning Himself aloof from our struggling existence, He places himself right in the midst of our greatest needs...and even partakes in the feelings of our crippling inabilities and inadequacies.
He extends pardon to our vilest offenses and He grants forgiveness to our most ungodly choices: Offering position to the meek and humble,
Lavishing joy upon the broken in heart and contrite in spirit,
Establishing greatness for the servant,
and Fully investing in the castaway, the downtrodden, the purposeless and the profitless.
Jesus brings eternal value to those whom the world deems unfit for anything ... by bring the vibrancy of eternity right into the hearts of those who believe. This life in Christ can be the most awesome unfolding of mysteries right before our eyes. Every turn in the road is a new revelation of His love and plan for me and you. Don't miss out on the adventure by being in a hurry to stake your claim in the “I know that” camp. Pack up your tent of the need for temporal contentment, and keep moving further into the uncharted regions of personal intimacy with your God. No matter where we turn we will find Him there, waiting to lavish His extravagant love upon us.
Are you overwhelmed by uncontrollable waves of joy by the revelation of His care for you? No?Stop ...lift your arms to the Father. Let your crushing cares go. Stay there until He lifts you into His everlasting arms. His desire is you!
Merry Christmas Again! And Again!
The never ending party for You!
HLFA,
Jeff
