“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” –Luke 2:7
Imagine Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. They’re exhausted, Mary has gone into labor, and all the rooms in town are taken. Did they kick themselves for not getting there a day or two earlier? As they were turned away from one full inn after another, they certainly prayed, “God, help us find a place to stay!” Did they hope for a miraculous ‘last-minute cancellation’ that would give them a room? They trusted that God would provide for them; did they wonder why He didn’t intervene?
God, in His wisdom, wanted to use the
circumstances of Jesus’ birth to teach us the holiness of humility. Jesus was
born in a humble stable and laid in a smelly manger
to unite Himself with the poorest of the poor, to prove that all people are
precious to Him, regardless of their wealth or status. Mary and Joseph might
not have realized this at the time, but they did trust that even the stable was
part of God’s plan. Who knows? Maybe in Bethlehem there was another family
praying desperately for lodging, and God’s plan was to let them experience the miracle of a ‘last-minute cancellation.’ Maybe
their experience increased their faith in Him and brought them a joy they had
never known before.
Have you ever asked God to help you,
to take away a particular struggle, and you felt like He wasn’t listening
because you didn’t see a change? Jesus’ birth in the stable shows us that,
sometimes, God doesn’t intervene because He has a better plan. He knows the
lessons He wants to teach us through our own ‘humble stables’ and ‘smelly mangers.’
Maybe one experience taught you that what needed to change wasn’t your situation
but your attitude. Or maybe, when you trusted our Lord to provide for you and you
followed the ‘gut feelings’ He gave you as to what steps to take next, you
found a new course of action; maybe that experience took you on a path closer
toward Him. Maybe you looked honestly at the messiness in your own heart and
gained a new, humble perspective that softened how you relate to others.
The stable and manger became holy
because the Son of God dwelt there. This Christmas, invite Jesus deeper into
your heart. Let Him make holy the ‘humble stable’ of your day-to-day experience
and the ‘smelly manger’ in your heart. Trust that He will use them to bring His
Love, Peace, and Joy to the world.
Merry Christmas!
“Lord, come
into my heart!”
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