Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
MICAH 5:2| 2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
LUKE 2:4| 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.
We often question God’s timing, as no doubt Mary and Joseph did, when it doesn’t coincide with our plans or wishes. But then we see a deeper pattern. Biblically, the inconvenient journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem meant Jesus’ birth lived up with and fulfilled Micah’s prophecy of the Messiah’s birthplace. Theologically it meant that he arrived in the City of David, and this emphasized his royal lineage. At an even deeper level it put the Divine Presence in the humblest of locations—a barn in an unfamiliar town. God chose to visit us as a member of a despised race, to come in obscurity and then to suffer persecution. Soon he and his family would be refugees in Egypt, fleeing the machinations of the terrible Herod. God moves, in the Incarnation, on the underside of history.
What deeper patterns are visible in your life?
