When God wants to do something big he usually sends something small.
Galatians 4:4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
Most of us have heard that the best gifts come in small packages, we know that the smallest gifts are usually the most valuable, but this is especially true when the small package is a baby. We are usually drawn toward the baby with a desire to nurture it, protect it and celebrate it.
Unfortunately there have been too many babies that have been anything but good news and they have not been treasured as a gift from God. We will never know how much good may have been accomplished by a baby that was unwanted and therefore it was unprotected.
The Bible has a lot of stories about babies that were sent to do something special. I cannot imagine how different the world would be if any of these babies had been destroyed.
Special babies that were sent by God:
- Moses - Born under an evil dictator that sought to kill every Jewish baby. His life had to be preserved so that 80 years later he would rescue God's people.
- Samuel - A barren mother promises to give her child to God, the baby grows up in the temple, and he becomes Israel's first prophet.
- John the Baptist - Elderly parents that are unable to have a child, his dad's unbelief caused him to be unable to speak, Jesus says he is the greatest man.
- Jesus - Virgin birth, born under an evil dictator that sought to kill him, called out of Egypt, came to be the perfect Passover lamb.
One of the most difficult things to understand is why God loves to send a baby to do a man's job. Why can't a full grown man arrive on the scene and take care of things right away? We want someone with strength, know how and determination but God prefers to send someone that doesn't even know that we need him yet.
God's special babies come in his timing to unlikely moms. The proof that God is in control can be seen many times by using ladies that couldn't get pregnant for a long time. Many of the important mom's in the Bible were barren until God was ready to send the special baby that his people needed.
Waiting for God's special babies to be born is difficult, but then when they finally arrive they are vulnerable and must be protected, then they have to grow up physically and then sometimes God still doesn't use them until they are old and they have had time to grow up spiritually.
Meanwhile generations of God's people live and die without seeing God's mercy and generations of worldly people live and die without seeing God's judgment. That's what happened in Moses' day, the Canaanites continued to live in sin without suffering the consequences that God promised would come someday and God's people suffered and many of them died in Egypt without the fulfillment of the promise to save them.
1 John 4:14-15 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.
It doesn't seem fair to us, God doesn't satisfy our desire to fix things right away, all of Israel waited for hundreds of years for the greatest baby that was ever promised. Meanwhile it seemed that God wasn't paying attention or he didn't care.
Our idea of being in control doesn't look like God's, he was aware of our plight and he was still on track with his original plan to send his son to be "God with us." In the midst of the chaos of political and economic woes he sent Jesus as a baby to eventually grow up to be the man that would save us.
The day is coming when "God with us" will happen again, God will send his son back to earth, but don't expect him to be the sweet baby that they saw the first time and don't expect him to be a humble servant either.
We all need to learn about the greatest gift ever that comes through Jesus but the only way to experience a gift is to receive it. Have you received the only gift that can give you peace with God?
