Unshackled Moments ~ December 5 ~ O Uncomfortable Night

Sometimes things simply do not go our way. It seems like nothing goes right. As Christmas approaches it can feel overwhelming as the perfect gift for that loved one gets harder and harder to find and the supply of money and time melt away like snow in East Texas refusing to stick.  The store is sold out of the secret ingredient that makes your dish special, and there isn't an unbroken pie crust to be bought in town. You're so blasted with work and doing those "have to" things, that you haven't had a chance to go shopping, and if a miracle doesn't take place soon, your wife is going to end up getting a Christmas present from a gas station. But just because things aren't falling into place doesn't mean that God is not with you or that you are out of line with His will.

I imagine Joseph must have thought that first Christmas was a lot more stressing than blessing. Here's a man, don't really know how old he is, but he's grown, finally getting the wife he's hoped for and the chance to continue his line with a son. Now the girl turns up pregnant with a story about an angel. It's too much to take. It's unbelievable. But he loves her, so he's going to put her away quietly. Then he has a dream, and the angel tells him Mary's story is true, go through with the wedding, raise that boy. So he goes ahead and marries the girl, but waits on the honeymoon until after the birth of the child. But I would bet he still had his doubts from time to time until that little boy grew to be so righteous that he made the nicest kids in the neighborhood look like whiny brats. So here is Joseph, finally married with all the responsibility and a baby on the way, and suddenly he has to travel?

Can you almost imagine Joseph getting the notice of the census demand to return to his hometown and asking Really? Now" She's due any day. What else could go wrong!? Never ask that question. What else could go wrong? There could be no place to stay in a small town when everyone has to return at the same time. Bethlehem gets a lot of grief over having no room in the inn... the inn, as to give the impression that in the little town of Bethlehem there was only one inn. Try getting a hotel room in Nacogdoches on the weekend of the SFA Homecoming game without booking it a year in advance. It's not easy, and there are quite a few hotels here. Now, surely if the inn keeper had known that Mary carried the Messiah he would have kicked someone out and made room, but really, would the Word that took on flesh to live a life of service and give His life for the world put someone out so He could have a bed? I don't think so. I think Jesus would have felt grateful for the barn and given God the Father thanks and praise.

But Joseph probably wasn't all that happy. Now they're in the barn, miles from home and family and friends that would normally be right by Mary's side to help aren't there. This is a special child and the conditions for His birth surely couldn't seem ideal, and Joseph was a carpenter, not even a shepherd. It's hard to imagine that he had a lot of experience helping with births. Oh God, how are we going to make it through this? How am I going to get it all done? Help me not make a mistake that ruins everything, please. 

But Jesus came, And the angels rejoiced, and the shepherds dropped in. Mary survived and so did the baby. The night became one that the whole world would celebrate and call holy, as though everything went perfectly. But for Joseph it was a hectic evening where he couldn't provide for his wife the way he would want. It was cold, dirty, and the best he could do for a delivery room was a cattle stall that he had to clean out himself. God was there. The night was blessed. It was indeed a holy and special night. But it most certainly was not a comfortable night, a convenient night or a perfect night.

The story of how Jesus entered the word brings us hope, hope that we can have relationship with the Father and that Jesus is coming again as the triumphant King, but it also gives us hope that God can bless the most messed up, out of control circumstances and situations and use them for His glory. Life doesn't have to go as planned, or our way, or perfectly, or comfortably, or conveniently in order to go wonderfully and blessed. So today and this season, as the things happen that always seem to that increase the stress and diminish the appearance of blessings on the season, remember that the most blessed and wonderful day of Christ's birth didn't go so smoothly either. Don't give  up hope. Rejoice! For God is with us.

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