God Does The Unexpected
"For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel," -- Luke 2:30-32
Jesus wasn't what anyone expected. The Jewish people were looking for someone a little more, shall we say, regal. You know. Bring out the gold crown, rally the mighty warriors, destroy everyone without a Jewish pedigree. What they got was a baby born in a manger to a family who were a long way from wealthy.
Simeon recognized Jesus when Mary and Joseph brought the baby to the temple to be consecrated to God. The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he wouldn't die before he'd seen the Messiah. Simeon, no doubt prompted by the Holy Spirit, recognized the tiny baby who would save us all. Others were so focused on what they expected that they failed to see what God had planned.
Sometimes we do that with our own lives. We have a plan. A good plan, we think. And we expect God to go along with it. More than that, we want Him to support us and bless us in the exact way we've planned. We get all bent out of shape if He doesn't go along with us. We're so focused on what we want -- or think we want -- that we can't see the wonderful things He has planned for us.
We don't think of this as a control issue. Not us. We've got goals and dreams and, well, you know, we have plans for our lives. It's normal. It's just that sometimes we're so focused on our plans that we forget to ask God about His plans. Big mistake.
God loves us and wants wonderful things for us. It's just that He's looking at the big picture and it's not all about you or me. Really. We're going to have peaks and valleys as we go through life. And sometimes the roads we travel aren't at all what we planned. That's okay. Sometimes those roads are way better than anything we could even have imagined.
God rarely acts in ways we expect. He is awesome and amazing. And sometimes He does something we were not even expecting -- like sending a tiny baby to one day save us all.
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