DETOURS IN LIFE
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.
Micah 5:2 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
The prophet Micah wrote these words some 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Anointed by the Holy Spirit Micah wrote a specific word about where the Messiah would be born. Seven hundred years later a virgin named Mary is told by God she is going to have a baby conceived by the Holy Spirit. It had to be a frightful moment to encounter an angel with that kind of news. Joseph gets confirmation from the angel, and they get married. I’m sure they were ready to get life moving forward with plans for a baby to be born. Then comes a major detour. Roman demands they take a trip to Bethlehem to register to be taxed. The trip to Bethlehem was about 70 miles direct but most scholars believe it was more like 90 miles because of the winding roads. There was also an elevation change of 1000 feet. This journey would normally take a traveler four days to complete. Here is a pregnant young woman on a donkey with her husband having a major detour in their plans. The timing could not have seemed worse to Mary and Joseph. It was inconvenient. It was difficult. It had to have seemed God was not being very kind to them to allow this detour to their plans of welcoming a new baby into their lives. But the detour was part of God’s eternal plan. A plan God had shared with Micah 700 years earlier. A plan that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Often what seems like detours to us are a part of God’s plan. Sometimes we fight what is happening because we think we know better. But when we yield our lives to the control of Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we yield to all the detours life might take. Rarely is life a direct shot. There are a lot of twist and turns that we didn’t expect. Things happen that were not on our five-year plan. Because of our limited view of life, we see things as detours that are God’s way of placing us in the right place at the right time to be a part of His divine plan. I want to allow the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to be sure I don’t fight God’s plan for my life. I don’t want to try and override what God is doing in me and wants to do through me.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit please help me to know and submit to Your will. Forgive me for the times I try to go my own way because I think it is a better way.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”