IMMANUEL...GOD IS STILL WITH US

  

DAY 3    "WHERE WERE YOU BORN"?

Scripture: Micah 5:2-6, Luke 2:1-7

- 

Over 400 years before Jesus’ Advent, Micah prophesied that God would deliver His people through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Micah prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah and that He would be a descendant of David. God chose the small insignificant city of Bethlehem to bring forth our glorious Savior. From this small city, Jesus would reach the entire world. 

The Christian life, it seems, is constant trading in of “big” things for seemingly “small” ones. In Micah 5, we find God’s people under attack and in distress (v.1). Any small glimmer of hope becomes momentous when our lives are under siege. We latch on to any news that better days are ahead when the day we’re in the midst of threatens to overtake us. So we can surely celebrate with the citizens of Zion because as enemies surrounded them, hope started to spark.

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days” (v.2).

Look around. If we hand-picked the details of the Christmas story, we’d choose grand above modest, spectacular above common, big above small. We’d likely dismiss Mary and Joseph as too insignificant, the stable as too drab, and Bethlehem as too small and seemingly unimportant. Yet, as we trace God’s hand throughout all of Scripture, it’s clear God does not assign value according to our scale.

This fixation with the small stuff was as confusing to the people who encountered Jesus as it often is for us. In the Gospel of John, we find folks bickering over Micah’s prophecy (John 7:40-44). They knew the Messiah would come from the hometown of David, but because mankind tends to have a collective obsession with bigger, shinier things, the point missed its mark in their hearts. Bethlehem wasn’t chosen as the epicenter for redemption because David made it famous. It was chosen for its smallness.

Bethlehem was a small, sleepy town, handpicked by God to incubate a spark of hope until it burst into flames. In the same way, our own smallness points to the greatness of God. There is nothing we can do about our brokenness. Yet, like Bethlehem, our sin works like an epicenter for hope when we trade it in for the humongous grace God offers.

When we exchange our obsession with making all things bigger and better, we are free to see that the promise delivered to God’s people through Micah is ours to hold on to this Christmas.

Write out your thoughts

Prayer
Father, I want this holiday season to be filled with light instead of darkness. Please help me discard my emotional masks and be real before You as well as my family and friends. Father, help me make this holiday season an offering of praise to You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.