Surprises

God has a long track record of using peculiar means and surprises in bringing about salvation. The Advent season brings these things to center stage. Perhaps the absurdities of the first few chapters of Luke (and the other gospels) have been lost on you in their re-telling so as a re-cap consider the following:

• John the Baptist is born to absurdly old parents. His father is mute for 9 months because of his shock over the whole thing. Remind me to never express surprise when God answers prayers.
• A teenage girl of no particular significance conceives a child by the Holy Spirit and takes it all in stride. My wife and I “planned” for our children and still were overwhelmed!
• John the Baptist shows more spiritual discernment in the womb than many folks who sit in pews each Sunday. That little dance party for Jesus wouldn’t be the last.
• Joseph, an honorable man, goes against all logic and religious respectability and stays with Mary. There was no shotgun wedding but Gabriel got Joseph down the aisle just the same.
• A hay trough serves as a crib for the newborn King. They say kids raised on farms have stronger immune systems. I imagine Mary just wanted Jesus’ antibodies to get a head start on life.
• “Hospital visitors” included more animals, some foreign dignitaries, and a few fragrant animal workers. Think backstage at the circus, only with no proper ventilation or cleanup crews.

It makes sense that the angels are on the scene so much in these chapters because literally no one in Israel, even after thousands of years of longing for the Messiah, would have been waiting for something like this. I think God delights in these kind of surprises because it forces us to be patient and attentive and discerning.

If we have clear timelines for anything in life we tend to put them on the calendar and forget about them until we need to think or plan for them. God desires our constant attention and devotion and isn’t looking for when-it-makes-sense-for-us faith. The surprises God puts in life, big and small, good and bad, are there to gives us occasion to look to Him.

Take time to celebrate the surprises that God has used draw you closer to himself. Even the bad ones are not so bad when on the other side of them we find Jesus in a fresh and new way.