“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem…He went there to register with Mary…”
Luke 2:4-5
I cannot imagine a worse time for the government to require everyone return to their hometown to register for a census. Talk about horrible timing for Joseph and Mary…
The King James translation says, Mary was great with child (vs.5). When I was great with child, I used to feel every bump in the road. By the last month of both pregnancies, there were roads I would avoid due to the bumps. I was even sensitive to manhole coverings. So for Mary and Joseph being required to take an unplanned 75 mile trek through mountains, hills and rocks…riding on a donkey in her third trimester, was quite an inconvenience! Keep in mind, this was to fulfill a difficulty imposed upon them by the government. They were not choosing a wilderness vacation.
Were they tempted to think, “Hasn’t God already asked us to do enough? Now this?
Yet, we see no mention of whining and complaining. We see no mention of heartbreak on Mary’s part that she would be away from her mother at the time the baby could possibly come.
Yet God, Who is sovereign over all the affairs of mankind, allowed this inconvenient hardship to take place to fulfill His greater purposes. Nothing is ever coincidental with God. Nothing takes God by surprise.
What difficulty has been imposed upon you? Something out of your control that has become a great hardship?
- Have you been asked to host Christmas at your house and this is a true hardship for you?
- Have you been asked to do something that you don’t want to do ─ but out of necessity ─ are having to do it?
God’s plans are not always convenient, easy or comfortable. Yet during the long, difficult, uncomfortable journey Mary and Joseph were required to make, we see evidence of:
- God’s provision
- God’s protection and
- God’s presence
If we truly grasp that the God who created everything is also in charge of our struggles and hardships, maybe we’ll be able to have a better perspective on life when it’s not convenient.
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