Finding Your Bethlehem
By Shannon Pederson
As the crow flies, it was a journey of approximately 62 miles, but traveling over hills, through villages, and around rivers would likely have made the trip much longer. Christmas pictures always show Mary riding a donkey, but we really have no idea of their mode of travel. In any case, whether on foot or on the back of a swaying brown animal, it wasn’t an easy journey, especially for a woman nearing the end of her pregnancy.
Why did she go? Government officialdom decreed a census and that everyone must go to one’s “own city,” the place their families called home, for this official registration and counting. Perhaps Mary was also quite ready to leave the village of Nazareth where tongues were wagging about her pregnancy and unmarried status.
But Mary and Joseph knew they were going far from family and into a city whose streets would be clogged with traveling strangers. They were assured of no warm welcome, no cozy place to birth the expected child. Perhaps they hoped for a small house or a distant relative or a way for Joseph to earn money for their keep, but in almost every way, they were traveling into the unknown. The journey was long and hard, the destination uncertain.
Nearly nine months before their arrival in Bethlehem, Mary spoke life-changing words to God, words that were to comfort her in the many uncertain years ahead. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38) With those simple words of faith, she could endure the long journey on the back of a donkey, the cold streets of Bethlehem, the staring faces of strangers, and even the crude stable with its straw-lined manger.
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom
(Dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape the Nazis in WWII)
Each of us has our own “Bethlehem.” We all experience adventures into the unknown. Some have good outcomes; some not. But when we submit ourselves to a loving God, we can, with confidence, know that He is with us during all these experiences. Trusting God doesn’t come easy. We can’t see, touch, or hear His voice, at least not in the same way we do the humans in our life. That’s where the teachings of the Bible and our personal faith come into play.
Our faith may never be as strong as Mary’s, but our response to God can be the same as hers and that may help us through things unknown.
"I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:4
As the crow flies, it was a journey of approximately 62 miles, but traveling over hills, through villages, and around rivers would likely have made the trip much longer. Christmas pictures always show Mary riding a donkey, but we really have no idea of their mode of travel. In any case, whether on foot or on the back of a swaying brown animal, it wasn’t an easy journey, especially for a woman nearing the end of her pregnancy.
Why did she go? Government officialdom decreed a census and that everyone must go to one’s “own city,” the place their families called home, for this official registration and counting. Perhaps Mary was also quite ready to leave the village of Nazareth where tongues were wagging about her pregnancy and unmarried status.
But Mary and Joseph knew they were going far from family and into a city whose streets would be clogged with traveling strangers. They were assured of no warm welcome, no cozy place to birth the expected child. Perhaps they hoped for a small house or a distant relative or a way for Joseph to earn money for their keep, but in almost every way, they were traveling into the unknown. The journey was long and hard, the destination uncertain.
Nearly nine months before their arrival in Bethlehem, Mary spoke life-changing words to God, words that were to comfort her in the many uncertain years ahead. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38) With those simple words of faith, she could endure the long journey on the back of a donkey, the cold streets of Bethlehem, the staring faces of strangers, and even the crude stable with its straw-lined manger.
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom
(Dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape the Nazis in WWII)
Each of us has our own “Bethlehem.” We all experience adventures into the unknown. Some have good outcomes; some not. But when we submit ourselves to a loving God, we can, with confidence, know that He is with us during all these experiences. Trusting God doesn’t come easy. We can’t see, touch, or hear His voice, at least not in the same way we do the humans in our life. That’s where the teachings of the Bible and our personal faith come into play.
Our faith may never be as strong as Mary’s, but our response to God can be the same as hers and that may help us through things unknown.
"I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:4