God's timing is perfect.
Luke 2:1–7 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Thousands of years since the moment that sin entered the world and now the time is right for our Savior to be born. God's timing for our Savior's birth was perfect, the fulfillment of every prophecy about Jesus birth was about to happen.
Did you notice that the Roman government was just doing it's job governing the empire, they had no idea that they were being used by God to fulfill prophecy, it was just another day at the office for them.
The prophets had told us that the child would be born in Bethlehem, the city of Christ ancestor king David, but Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth. The Lord used the Roman census to put Mary and Joseph in the right place at precisely the right time. If they had stayed a little longer at Nazareth then the prophecy would have been wrong!
| Psalms 33:11 But the Lord's plans stand firm forever; His intentions can never be shaken. |
God is always at work, even in the small things that we don't suspect, things that don't seem significant to the people involved. Mary and Joseph probably didn't realize why they were being forced to go to Bethlehem, they probably just blamed the Roman's for the inconvenience. They probably didn't go to Bethlehem smiling and thanking God for what was about to happen.
Thank you Lord for your perfect timing and how you use the everyday things to accomplish your will. Help me to trust you for the bigger picture during those times when the circumstances of my life don't make sense.
