Have you ever asked God "why"?
For some reason, this year I have become especially curious about how Mary must have reacted when she found out that she'd be giving birth in a barn... with livestock! Did she ask God, "why"?
I don't know what the cultural norm was back then?? Who knows? Maybe it was typical for a family to bed-down in a stable if the inns were all full? Maybe women gave birth in stables on a regular basis and it was not a shock to her? I just don't know. But I am approaching this post with the idea that it was not in Mary's plan in any way, shape or form to give birth in a barn.
I have thought about Christ's birth over and over as we've celebrated Christmas each year and the significance that there is that God chose for His Son to be born in a lowly stable, but never has it dawned on me with such intensity as this year how Mary must've felt about it. She had just been delivered an amazing message that she would have the honor and privilege to be the mother of God's Son!... only to undergo social and public ridicule at people's sick assumptions, almost lose her fiance to the rumor, ride on the back of a donkey in her 9th month of pregnancy and have the glory taken away by God's seeming absence in the night of Jesus' birth by having found no place to stay in an inn and delivering her baby amongst the livestock in a cold and dirty stable. I know God wasn't actually absent of course! His hand was working very purposefully and perfectly in the entire situation because He knew that His Son, born in a stable would someday give His life to atone for our sins and save us all! But Mary did not have the privilege of that foresight and knowledge.
How did Mary handle her situation? Did she feel abandoned? She obviously believed God's promise that what He promised would happen, but did she ever think that God had forgotten her as she and Joseph knocked on door after door and inn after inn to see if there was some place for them to stay that night? Did she wonder if God had forgotten what He was doing and drop the ball when all the answers came up "no"? Was she angry?
I've always pictured Mary as being completely laid back, smiling (just like the Mary figurine in our nativity set) and completely at peace with her situation. But this thought about how it must've felt to arrive in Bethlehem after such a long, uncomfortable ride and then to have to give birth in a stable has changed how I view Mary on the night of Jesus' birth. Maybe she was at peace and completely confident in God's faithfulness to provide... and maybe she stressed just a tiny bit and was put to ease once she realized they at least had a place to sleep. Whatever the case, we don't know. We don't know because Mary isn't the "reason for the season"! Jesus is. It's all about Him.
Right now, Cal and I are going through quite a lot in our personal lives with work, school, our adoptions, moving Ariana to a new school, helping Ella cope with her sensory needs and trying to move into a new home a couple weeks before Christmas! There are some days (like today) when everything goes wrong and I wonder, "Why God? Have You forgotten me? Have You forgotten Your original promise to us to prosper us and not to harm us?" (Jer. 29:11) But that's when His response comes blazing into my heart, "Jen, throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for you. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith." (Heb 12:1-2)
As I have asked God today, ""why" is this happening?" or ""why" is that happening?", He has been so faithful to provide more promises through His word that come toppling into my mind one after another:
Without the stable, Christ wouldn't have been quite so human. Without the stable, it would have been easy to see and believe that Jesus was someone special and prophecy would have gone unfulfilled. Without the stable, Jesus would have missed the opportunity to relate to so many people! And without the stable, Mary's faith would not have been stretched to the point of full surrender to God and His plan.
For some reason, this year I have become especially curious about how Mary must have reacted when she found out that she'd be giving birth in a barn... with livestock! Did she ask God, "why"?
I don't know what the cultural norm was back then?? Who knows? Maybe it was typical for a family to bed-down in a stable if the inns were all full? Maybe women gave birth in stables on a regular basis and it was not a shock to her? I just don't know. But I am approaching this post with the idea that it was not in Mary's plan in any way, shape or form to give birth in a barn.
I have thought about Christ's birth over and over as we've celebrated Christmas each year and the significance that there is that God chose for His Son to be born in a lowly stable, but never has it dawned on me with such intensity as this year how Mary must've felt about it. She had just been delivered an amazing message that she would have the honor and privilege to be the mother of God's Son!... only to undergo social and public ridicule at people's sick assumptions, almost lose her fiance to the rumor, ride on the back of a donkey in her 9th month of pregnancy and have the glory taken away by God's seeming absence in the night of Jesus' birth by having found no place to stay in an inn and delivering her baby amongst the livestock in a cold and dirty stable. I know God wasn't actually absent of course! His hand was working very purposefully and perfectly in the entire situation because He knew that His Son, born in a stable would someday give His life to atone for our sins and save us all! But Mary did not have the privilege of that foresight and knowledge.
How did Mary handle her situation? Did she feel abandoned? She obviously believed God's promise that what He promised would happen, but did she ever think that God had forgotten her as she and Joseph knocked on door after door and inn after inn to see if there was some place for them to stay that night? Did she wonder if God had forgotten what He was doing and drop the ball when all the answers came up "no"? Was she angry?
I've always pictured Mary as being completely laid back, smiling (just like the Mary figurine in our nativity set) and completely at peace with her situation. But this thought about how it must've felt to arrive in Bethlehem after such a long, uncomfortable ride and then to have to give birth in a stable has changed how I view Mary on the night of Jesus' birth. Maybe she was at peace and completely confident in God's faithfulness to provide... and maybe she stressed just a tiny bit and was put to ease once she realized they at least had a place to sleep. Whatever the case, we don't know. We don't know because Mary isn't the "reason for the season"! Jesus is. It's all about Him.
Right now, Cal and I are going through quite a lot in our personal lives with work, school, our adoptions, moving Ariana to a new school, helping Ella cope with her sensory needs and trying to move into a new home a couple weeks before Christmas! There are some days (like today) when everything goes wrong and I wonder, "Why God? Have You forgotten me? Have You forgotten Your original promise to us to prosper us and not to harm us?" (Jer. 29:11) But that's when His response comes blazing into my heart, "Jen, throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for you. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith." (Heb 12:1-2)
As I have asked God today, ""why" is this happening?" or ""why" is that happening?", He has been so faithful to provide more promises through His word that come toppling into my mind one after another:
"I Am able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine, according to My power that is at work within you." (Eph 3:20)
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)
Just as Mary had no idea why she ended up in the cold, dank stable the night that God's promise came to fruition, I don't understand why we are in the place we are in at this moment in our lives, but I am choosing to believe that God is just setting His stage to Blow. Our. Minds!
Without the stable, Christ wouldn't have been quite so human. Without the stable, it would have been easy to see and believe that Jesus was someone special and prophecy would have gone unfulfilled. Without the stable, Jesus would have missed the opportunity to relate to so many people! And without the stable, Mary's faith would not have been stretched to the point of full surrender to God and His plan.
As I've continued to mull around the idea that Mary was disappointed at the time and place of Jesus' birth, a new realization dawned on me... How precious must the wise men and their gifts have been to Mary?! To have undergone such a tough trip during the last stage of pregnancy to Bethlehem, deliver her child in a barn, and then run for her life with a new born infant all the way to Egypt, and probably wonder where in the world her God had gone... an abundant and (I'm sure) very costly gift from these men must have been a priceless reassurance that God, was indeed, with her and sustaining her! (But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. - Luke 2:19)
I pray that as I go through these "stable days" of life that I won't assume God has forgotten me or let me down, but that He is just knitting every piece together just the way He wants it so that in the end, His glory will radiate so brightly that it will penetrate every heart who sees what He has done.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Merry Christmas! Let us look to Jesus this season and celebrate His amazing life and intricate plans for each of us!
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