Mom, do you remember the moment? That moment when your pregnant body refused to take another stair, to bend to pick up another sock, to even move out of the rocker. Can you imagine climbing on a donkey every day for a week to travel over rocks, up hills, through water to a distant town? Can you envision the fear of labor pains starting on the night you share a floor with goats and cows? No mother, no friend, no familiar midwife to call. Sure, the vision of the angel telling you this is God’s son vividly permeates your thoughts, but could it have been real? Would God have allowed Caesar to order you to move so far in so delicate a condition? Wouldn’t God provide better for His Son?
Dad, do you remember the moment? The moment your bride announced the impending birth of your first child. Do you recall the surprise, the pride, the wonder? Joseph experienced none of that. Horror, anger, despair that the woman he loved had publicly made a mockery of him was all he likely felt at Mary’s announcement of impending birth. Sure, the vision of the angel telling you this is God’s son vividly permeates your thoughts. But, as you struggle to pull a donkey across a desert, find a room for your bride to rest, locate a midwife in a distant town—could it have been real? Would God have allowed this turn of events? Wouldn’t God provide better for His Son?
This Christmas parents will struggle mightily to provide a “good Christmas” for our children. Though times are tough, we will find a way to get something to light their eyes and give a sense of wonder. Yet, even as we troll the aisles looking for “it,” we may struggle with questions. If the God we worship is sovereign, if we are following His plan—how can this be happening to us? Wouldn’t God provide better for His people?
God used Caesar to move Mary to David’s birthplace to fulfill prophesy and clearly establish Jesus’ identity as God’s plan of salvation from the dawn of time. Choosing a woman from Bethlehem could be dismissed as coincidence. The unusual moving of a woman from a far distance pointed to God. God’s provision of a stable instead of suite at the inn allowed socially outcast shepherds to be the first to gaze upon the Savior. God demonstrated, unlike most religions, that His salvation is for all—even the lowliest. God’s movement of the wisest men of the age from a distant land likewise demonstrated that the greatest would bow to Jesus. In every aspect of the Christmas story we see the seemingly worst circumstances intentionally planned to reveal God’s hand.
As you struggle with circumstances that seem to argue against God’s sovereignty, God’s care, or His provision—consider Joseph and Mary. They had every reason to doubt—yet their lives perfectly reveal God to us. As God’s plan unfolded Mary treasured the signs that her faith was well-placed. Stick with the plan God has given you. As you do, your unfolding life will reveal God’s hand both to you and others to demonstrate your faith is well-placed.
As the backdrop to the new bike, the costumed Barbie, and the pile of Lego’s, the security of parents faithfully putting their confidence in the goodness, power, and love of God—even in testing times—ministers to the heart of our children. While you may not have to haul a pregnant belly onto a donkey or live down the rumors surrounding your wife, you will walk in Joseph and Mary’s footsteps each time you trust God despite the circumstances that surround. That faithful walk will become the greatest gift you give your children and the very core of a “good Christmas.”
