O little town of Bethlehem… This time of year, we often hear this refrain as words to a Christmas song. It is a revered place that holds significance in Bible history, but have you ever stopped to consider the actual birthplace of our Savior? We first read of it in Genesis as the place that Jacob was traveling to when Rachel gave birth to Benjamin (Genesis 35:16-19). It was where Ruth returned to with Naomi after the death of her husband and father-in-law (Ruth 1:1-7). Samuel finds his way there to anoint David as the next king of Israel (I Samuel 16:1-4). Micah prophesies of it as a small place which will bring great things (Micah 5:2). All in all, it was a backwoods location of some of the most beloved people in our spiritual lineage.
Along with selecting an unlikely place for our Savior’s beginning, God also chose unlikely people to bring about his plan. Ruth was undoubtedly experiencing a great deal of grief as she traveled the road to Bethlehem with Naomi. David, the young shepherd, was hardly the vision of a king when Samuel anointed him. Mary was an unwed teenager at the time she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. God often uses our vulnerabilities to bring us close. Like a parent directing the chin of their child to look them in the face and say, “listen to me, I love you.” Life happens, but God is. He is the light (John 8:12), the giver of living water (John 4:7-14), the bread of life (John 6:35), and “the Alpha and Omega, the first and last” (Rev 22:13). His plan has purposefully been carried out in the lives of misfits and marginalized individuals throughout history who shared an unwavering faith in God. The older I get and the more of life that happens to me and around me, I appreciate more and more the fact that God sees us for who we are and not what we have. As He told Samuel long ago in the small town of Bethlehem,
“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
I Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
God is not searching for perfect people; He is searching for faithful hearts with eyes focused on Him. David was certainly not perfect as we read of his many faults, yet he was the only person to be called a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). O little town of Bethlehem, a place from which great things came. The Bible is a message of hope for all of us, no matter our station in this life, misfit, marginalized, or misdirected. We each have the potential to do great things for God if we follow the example of those who came before us and keep our eyes on Him and His plan.
Psalm 84: 11-12
11“For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!”
Giving God the Glory 