2 December 2019
Devotion
It’s amazing that God chose an insignificant place for the Messiah to be born. This shows us an amazing characteristic of our God – He does not see things the way we do. The Bible says in Isaiah 55:9, ‘For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than Your ways and My thoughts higher than Your thoughts.’ Jesus is that perfect example of the difference between man’s mindset and God’s.
Life poses all sorts of challenging situations. I think of the woman with the issue of blood who spent all of her wealth on doctors, or blind Bartimaeus who begged by the side of the road, waiting on the charity of others in order to survive. The crowds that would pass them by would have surely thought that they were in a hopeless situation; nothing could be done to change their predicament.
Jesus thought differently! Hallelujah! Even when Lazarus had been dead for 4 days, the situation was not impossible for God to turn around.
Jesus faced all of these obstacles with such faith in what He knew His Father could do. He knew that nothing was impossible for God. Why would God choose such a humble place for the Messiah to be born in? I’m certain there are many reasons, but for today I want to highlight one – that with God, all things will be turned around for good. He is good! No matter what the circumstances look like, God can move any mountain, overcome any obstacle and turn around the most difficult situation. He is God and in Him nothing is impossible. Let this encourage you today to have faith in God. As you reach out to Him and pray to Him, He will come through for you. He did it for Jesus and He has done it for countless others over the centuries so He can do it for you!
Scripture
Micah 5:2 (NLT)
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.
Matthew 2:4-6 (NLT)
He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
Prayer
Dear Father,
Today I come before You with the challenges that I face. I want to have the same mindset of Jesus today and so I ask that you would turn my circumstances around and you would answer the cry of my heart. You came, Jesus, to bring life and life to the full. At this moment I am not living life to the full and I want to. I believe You can do anything, so I cast off my unbelief and choose this day to put my faith in Your ability to change my life.
I ask all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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