GOD IS WORKING OUT HIS PLAN

GOD IS WORKING OUT HIS PLAN.

Once again the season of good cheer is upon us and I began to wonder how Mary and Joseph might have felt when they had to take the long, tedious and very uncomfortable journey all the way to Bethlehem just because Caesar wanted a census. I mean, they could have thought to give it a miss considering Mary’s very pregnant condition. They could have confronted God about His grand design for using them to birth the Messiah and ask Him if there was not a better and possibly easier way to make it happen. Yet obediently they went on to their hometown of Bethlehem in Judea to be counted.

Now a quick flash back to some seven hundred years before that time; one of the prophets had foretold of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”  Micah 5:2 KJV The seven hundred years of Micah’s prophecy seemed like such a long time ago and could anyone even remember it?  Yes! God did because He never forgets besides He honours His word even more than His name. “…For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”  Psalm 138:2b KJV. So there was a prophecy that had to be fulfilled and God had to make it happen at all costs. Even if there was going to be a little (or maybe a lot) of discomfort along the way, even if God had to use people who did not acknowledge or know Him, the prophecy had to be fulfilled.

In readiness for the fulfilment of this prophecy though one might have expected that the birth of the Saviour of the whole world, God’s only Son, would have been in a nice and very comfortable environment  for His mother, Mary; with first class medical personnel in attendance just to make sure absolutely nothing would go wrong. Well, that was not the case here. Neither was it the case of a home birth in the familiar surroundings of Mary’s and Joseph’s own home. Though I do not know the exact technicalities that surrounded the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, I do know as it is written: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”  Luke 2:7 KJV   Now Mary and Joseph must have been exhausted from all the travel on the back of a donkey. As if that was not enough, they could not find any decent accommodation except a barn where farm animals were kept at night to protect them from the cold. Could it possibly get any worse?

I have no idea what Mary and Joseph expected when God called them to be the earthly parents of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Whatever it might have been, whether or not it happened the way they expected, the fact remains that the will of God was done. Though there was no room in the inn God still made a way…in the manger. All the while He was working things out even when it did not look like it.

“God was working out His plan

Every promise He fulfilled all according to His will,

God was working out His plan

And against His power no earthly foe can stand…..”

“HIS PLAN” (by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir from their “Light of the World”, year 2001 album)

Dear friend, do you have a promise from God, hold on very tight to it because He will surely bring it to pass. Yes, there might be a bit of discomfort along the way, some bumps and hitches here and there but hold on and do not let go.

GOD IS ALWAYS WORKING OUT HIS PLAN.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS©