Planning and Preparing for a Baby
There have been prayer after prayer offered on his behalf.
There have been doctor’s appointments, and more doctor’s appointments. There has
been healthy eating taking place. There was a list of items needed and a baby
shower held, with wonderful items, some specially made, some fun and others
practical that were given. The nursery is completed and the rocking chair has
been slipcovered. Now we wait for the precious arrival with the planning and
preparations finished.
This time of year, you are probably busy with your planning
and preparations for the Christmas season. You’ve probably made travel plans,
purchased gifts, bake holiday goodies, mailed cards and hopefully thought about
the birth of Jesus, the true meaning of the season.
God the Father had lots of planning and preparations to be
done for the birth of His Son, but some of His plans seem a little odd to me at first glance.
After all:
-
Mary’s mother was not married, causing quite a stir in her day
- There didn’t seem to be much support from her friends and family—we don’t ever hear about grandparents or brothers and sisters or friends throwing a baby shower for her
- The census at just the time of her delivery, making her travel 4 or 5 days
- There was no room for them in the inn or anywhere else for that matter
- Jesus, the king of the universe was born in a stable with animals and filth all around Him
- He was laid in a stone feeding trough filled with hay instead of a nice cushioned standard met baby bed
- His parents were so poor that they couldn’t afford the standard sacrifice prescribed for a newborn
But….and there is a big but in Galatians 4:4 where it says, “But
when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman born
under the Law.” That one verse tells us that God didn’t make any mistake with
the birth of Jesus, because that opening phrase means that the right time
finally came.
Let’s take a look at why God’s plans were perfect:
If Mary had been married she would not have been a virgin
and people would have assumed that Joseph was the dad and not God Himself.
If Mary's family had been too strong of an influence, she
might not have wanted to leave them to go with Joseph to start her new family.
If the census had not been called at that time, Jesus would
not have been born in Bethlehem as the prophet Micah had predicted.
Since there was no room in the inn, Mary and Joseph got a
place away from the hubbub of everything going on at that time and could be
alone to have their baby in privacy.
If Jesus had been born in a palace and laid in a golden bed
with a silver spoon in His mouth it would have been hard for most people to
relate to Him, but because He was laid in a feeding trough no one would feel that
He was too good for them.
Even though His parents were poor, God provided for them.
The wise men visited bringing gifts that they could sell in order to go on the
journey to Egypt to get away from Herod’s evil plot to kill Jesus.
God hadn’t just taken care of the details of the birth, but
also the world situation:
-
The nation of Israel was ready for a Savior. They had been oppressed by the Romans and anticipated the birth of the Messiah.
- The prophecies were in place and ready to be fulfilled.
- The world situation was ready for the arrival of Jesus because the ability to travel was in place—the Romans had 50,000 miles of highways built making it easy to move from place to place.
- The Greek influence had unified the language barrier from years prior. Therefore the Good News would be able to be proclaimed easily.
Yes, God made the perfect preparations for the birth of His
precious baby boy who would save the people of this world from their sins if
they put their faith and trust in Him. So as you scurry around this Christmas
season, take some time to remember the preparations that God the Father made
because He loves you and desires for you to be a part of His family too.
Luke 2:6-7 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him and wrapped Him in cloths because there was no room in the inn.
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