Latest / Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation / Daily Devotion: The Road to the Manger | Friday
Transcript
- 0:04Pastor Robert Young: Today's scripture reading is coming from Luke chapter 2 verses 6 through 7 from the New International Version.
- 0:15Pastor Robert Young: While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first born, a son.
- 0:25Pastor Robert Young: She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.
- 0:35Pastor Robert Young: We often romanticize the manger scene.
- 0:41Pastor Robert Young: We imagine soft golden hay, animals that don't smell, and a silence that feels holy.
- 0:51Pastor Robert Young: But the reality for Mary and Joseph was likely far more chaotic, loud and unsanitary.
- 1:02Pastor Robert Young: Imagine the faith required in that specific moment.
- 1:07Pastor Robert Young: Mary and Joseph knew this child was the Son of God.
- 1:13Pastor Robert Young: They knew he was the Messiah, the King of Kings.
- 1:19Pastor Robert Young: Human logic suggests that a king deserves a palace, silk sheets, and a team of attendants.
- 1:30Pastor Robert Young: Instead, they were given a stable.
- 1:34Pastor Robert Young: It would have been easy for doubt to creep in.
- 1:38Pastor Robert Young: Did we miss God's voice?
- 1:40Pastor Robert Young: If this is truly God's Son, why didn't God provide a room?
- 1:46Pastor Robert Young: Why is this starting so poorly?
- 1:50Pastor Robert Young: But their fate was not rooted in circumstances.
- 1:54Pastor Robert Young: It was rooted in obedience.
- 1:57Pastor Robert Young: Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes, an act of tender, maternal care amidst a harsh environment.
- 2:07Pastor Robert Young: They didn't wait for conditions to be perfect to worship or to care for the gift they had been given.
- 2:16Pastor Robert Young: They accepted that God's plan looked different than the world's expectations.
- 2:23Pastor Robert Young: The manger teaches us that God's presence is not limited to clean, organized, or successful moments.
- 2:33Pastor Robert Young: He is comfortable in the mess, he is present in the poverty, he is found in the places we least expect him.
- 2:44Pastor Robert Young: Joseph and Mary's faith allowed them to see a throne where the world saw only a feed box.
- 3:01Pastor Robert Young: Are you currently discouraged because a situation in your life didn't turn out perfectly or the way you planned?
- 3:12Pastor Robert Young: How might God be present in that very imperfection just as he was in the manger?