Christian Devotional – December 10, 2019

The Christmas story. Over the next 15 days leading up to Christmas, we’re going to look through one of the most important and amazing stories the Bible records. As we study the birth of Jesus, allow this to be a time of preparation for your hearts as we all seek to understand and remember the reason for the season. Read Luke 2:1-2.

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
Luke 2:1‭-‬2 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/luk.2.1-2.NASB

A census. This story here and now begins with a census taken by the Romans. It’s so interesting to see this because so often throughout Israel’s history in the Old Testament, when the people took a census, it was followed by judgment from God. In the past, the rulers of Israel often took a census without God’s blessing or approval. They did it as a way to see what their own strength was. God wanted the people to trust in Him, not in the number of fighters or armies that he had. Yet here, we see a sense as being taken by the Romans. Honestly, it was probably for about exactly the same reason. As the Romans were sweeping across the regions conquering people after people, they needed to find a way to record the enormity of their Empire. So they were taking a census.

Despite all the grumbling that the Jewish people would have been doing as a result of having their lives turned over in order to comply with this census, God was using this as the perfect time to send his Son into the world. How often are we recognizing that the difficulties or inconveniences that we experience may simply be God putting us in exactly the right place at exactly the right time so that we can experience His glory and fulfill His will?

Are we open to the inconvenience? Do we seek Him no matter how frustrating our circumstances around us may be? We often have limited control over our circumstances, and Mary and Joseph here had no control over their circumstances, yet God used it to fulfill His prophecies. Will we seek Him through every inconvenient circumstance today?