Faith Reflections

 ​Mistake or Meticulously Planned? ​​12/8/2024

 

​Jesus' birth is really unique. Most people don’t know where they are conceived or the circumstances surrounding it. If you are going to read someone’s biography, their story starts at their birth. And usually not much is written surrounding those circumstances. Most people begin to put value on someone else’s “life story” when they are at an age where they can make a difference to society. But Jesus is unique in that even his birth was of extreme historical significance. Why? Because an infinite, immortal God became human.

 

​But Jesus’ conception and birth is not entirely unique for Scripture puts value on one’s conception and birth multiple times. Look at Genesis for example. Isaac’s conception and birth is the major focus of Abraham’s life as God promises an old man with no land, no future, and no legacy that he will make him the father of many nations. And so at the age of 90, Isaac’s mother conceives and gives birth to Isaac: a miraculous birth of an infant and the birth of a nation that would be called God’s people.

 

Then Isaac’s wife Rebekah is unable to conceive until God opens her womb, answering their prayers to give her twin sons: Jacob and Esau. Then Jacob’s wife Rachel cannot have children until God opens her womb at the right time to give birth to Joseph: the eleventh of twelve children. Moses was conceived and born at the worst of times. The descendents of Isaac were living as slaves in Egypt and in order to control the population of slaves, the ruler of Egypt declared that any baby boys born to the Hebrew people were to be killed: sacrificed to the god of the Nile River. And Moses’ parents found themselves with child. And when he was born they noticed that he was “special” and defied Egypt’s decree and kept their baby boy alive. And that infant survived and became the deliverer of God’s people and the one in whom God gave the instruction in how to live in relationship with Him.

 

​A couple hundred years later, another woman found herself barren and unable to have children. The descendents of Jacob have now become the nation of Israel living in the Promised Land. They had become complacent and sinful. Even their religious leaders were falling deeply into sin. And so this barren woman promised to give her son back to God if he would but let her have a child. And God answered her promise and gave Hannah Samuel who would become a great priest and the last Judge of Israel helping to turn the hearts of the people back to God.

 

​So often in Scripture we see that a person’s legacy is not measured solely by their impact and accomplishments as an adult, but the hand of God at work even before their birth. You may say, “Well there is nothing exceptional about my birth or the family I was born into.” Some of you have been conceived and born into less than ideal situations: a single parent home, poverty, to abusive or negligent parents and you think, “how was a beginning like that part of God’s plan?” 

​Looking at the start of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Samuel’s life we see a pattern showing up. None of them came in the normal time or ideal circumstances. But each one came in a way that helped to shape the rest of their lives and God’s call and plan for them.

 

​I have told you before that my wife and I tried for five years to have Emma, our first child. We went to see doctors and fertility clinics, prayed, cried, and fought with each other over why she wasn’t coming. And then when we finally did get pregnant, we suffered a miscarriage. Those of you who have had miscarriages understand the grief of knowing that a life had begun, but never made it out of the womb before being ushered into the arms of Jesus. And Emma was a rainbow baby meaning that she was conceived within the time the first baby would still be growing in Leah’s womb. God taught me that the timing for Emma’s life was on his timetable as she was born on August 8 of 2008 at 8:08 PM. 

​Your timing is perfect too. No matter when or how you were conceived, it is God that opens and shuts the womb. Nobody is a mistake. And every life is precious and valuable. Two of my children are born naturally to my wife and I while the majority have been adopted. 

 

​All of my adopted children have had difficult circumstances in which they were conceived and born: some to underage mothers. Others were born to addicts. Some were to homeless parents. Their conception, birth and even their birth parents do not define the worth and value of their life. Each one of them is a miracle arriving in the place and time that God had determined and meticulously planned. 

 

Some of them, I knew of their arrival by God’s promises to my wife and I. Others were a complete surprise. And so I, personally, love the fact that Jesus’ story on earth did not begin with his ministry but his conception and birth.

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Luke 1 tells us that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit to a girl who was still a virgin. This was no natural birth! Completely unexpected and a surprise to his mother as Mary tells the angel who had delivered the news, “But how can this be. I am a virgin?”

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​Mary was not asked but told. A drastic change to the entirety of her life’s plans. She could have said to the angel, “No, my body my choice.” But instead her response was, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” What bravery exemplified in the life of this young woman. New life is never an invader or a parasite in a woman’s body, but a gift from God. And no matter how life begins, that life is precious, made with a purpose, and designed in the image of God.

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Jesus’ birth not only affirms our birth (sometimes to the most unlikely people chosen to be parents). Trust me, I couldn’t understand how some people were allowed to have children when Leah and I struggled to have one. Jesus’ birth also connects with us that were born into less than ideal circumstance.

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Luke 2:1-7 narrates the birth of Jesus. The Roman emperor Augustus orders a census, requiring everyone to return to their ancestral towns. Joseph, a descendant of King David, travels with Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. While in Bethlehem, the time comes for Mary to give birth. She has no place to stay, so she gives birth to Jesus in a stable and lays Him in a manger, as there was no room for them in the inn. This humble birth marks the arrival of the Savior in the town of David.

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​I love Jesus’ birth story because there is no one on this earth that shouldn’t feel valued about the timing of his first breaths and cries. His parents were forced to take a difficult trip as she is ripe to give birth and forced to have her baby away from the comforts of home, family and friends and deliver in an unsanitary barn.

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Jesus could have come as a king, a conqueror, rich, powerful, famous, beautiful and in the most perfect way by the world’s standards. Instead, he came in the way that is true to his character and most clearly reveals his love for us.

 

​So today, I want you to pause and look at your life. Are you undervaluing it by comparing it to the life and stories of others? Have you considered your entrance into this world or your upbringing as a detriment to what God can do with you rather than seeing it as part of his perfect plan to show the world his love through you? Do you realize today that you weren’t alone in those difficult times or years, but that Jesus was there with you? He loves to make the ordinary extraordinary. He loves to reveal a mess to be a beautiful designed pattern. Bad timing can truly be God’s perfect timing. 

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2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says

9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

​Maybe you have considered your conception, birth or upbringing to be a blockage to God’s will in your life. Jesus’ divine entrance into the world says the opposite. Let God get the glory for your life and feel loved in a special way as we celebrate God come to humanity in the body of a young virgin, born in a barn, who would change the entire world for eternity.