So many things haven’t made sense this year on a global, national, and personal level. Our 41-year-old daughter spent her year suffering through cancer treatments including radical surgery, and long and painful chemo and radiation treatments. A close family member battled deep depression. Most of the year my activities were restricted due to a health issue. My business fell on hard times due to Covid. Wildfires forced our community from our homes. Husband’s dear parents both faced debilitating health issues. We found out that going to church was a privilege that could be lost. Wrestling with the issues and not finding definitive answers can leave us bewildered. What are we supposed to do? What is God doing? God just doesn’t do things the way we humans want. We can allow this to make us question and doubt and become bitter. Or we can stand in awe, and by faith accept things as God orchestrates them and wait for his good outcomes.
In this Advent season, God’s ways stand in stark contrast to our ways. We would have arranged the birth of Jesus much differently than God did. We wouldn’t have picked an unmarried woman to be the mother of the holy babe. We wouldn’t have let his earthly father suffer the torment of believing his fiancé had been unfaithful. We wouldn’t have let their marriage start with such upheaval and unusual circumstances. We would have allowed the son of God to be born in the comfort of his parents’ home where everything was clean and safe and ready for his arrival. We would have made sure his family was on hand to support his mother and to welcome him into the world. We would have arranged for him to be born in an important city, the center of government and religion, so the powerful could acknowledge his arrival. We would have protected his mother from late-term upheaval, and from murder attempts in his infancy. We wouldn’t have planned for his parents to make not one, but two short notice, major moves that disrupted everything they had planned. We wouldn’t have upset his mother with dire prophecies of doom.
Instead, God chose that his son, Jesus, would enter the world:
Not surrounded by family, but among strangers and animals
Not in the comfort of home, but in an unfamiliar place days from home
Not in a place of honor, but in the lowest of places
Not in a guest room, but in a shelter for animals
Not in a cradle, but in a feeding trough
Not in the center of power, but in an outlying poor area
Not in the capitol city, but in a small village
Not at the holy temple, but in the straw of a stable
Not welcomed by leaders, but by laborers
Not prominent, but obscure
The King, but not born in the palace
The High priest, but not born from the priestly tribe
Creator of the universe, but now a helpless human baby
Scripture tells us over and over and in many different stories that God operates differently than we do and what he does is often beyond our comprehension. That is why faith is so necessary. God won’t make sense to our limited minds. We have to step beyond our own understanding and step into the vastness of God with hearts ready to believe that he is and that he can be found.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
“And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
God’s choices may not make sense to us. He has the right to choose people that seem to be unlikely candidates for his saving grace. None of us deserve it. None of us can choose it or earn it. It’s his choice to show us mercy and give us the faith to believe. And I’m so glad I don’t have to earn it!
“For God said to Moses,
“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”
So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.” Romans 9:15-16 quoting Exodus 33:19
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” Ephesians 2:8-9
God looks deeper than we do. I’ve made the mistake of judging people by their appearance and I’m guessing you have, too. We wrongly equate looking good with being good and we’re surprised when the two don’t match.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
God can use a terrible situation to bring about good. It’s counterintuitive, but I can think of wonderful people who came out of awful childhood experiences.
“‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’
Joseph said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.” Genesis 50:17,20
On a global scale, we see that God’s power always surpasses even the most powerful governments in the world since the dawn of civilization. He has been, is, and will control the course of history until the day he will wipe the earth clean and set up his own righteous government.
“He prayed, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you!” 2 Chronicles 20:
“. . . the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.” Daniel 5:21
“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.” Daniel 2:24
So we shouldn’t be surprised when God does things differently than we would like.
“Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16
Let’s stop and marvel at our God who is so far above us, mysterious, and yet right beside us and in us. Let’s give him room to do things his way. Let’s cooperate by being obedient even though we don’t understand his why. Let’s trust him to bring about his good ending in spite of appearances. After all, he is God!
Happy Advent!
Past Christmas blogs for further reading: