Nothing about the Christmas story is expected. Every detail is so unexpected, people missed it. And yet, if we learn nothing else from the Christmas story, we need to learn this–God shows up in the most unexpected places.

Sometimes we get caught up in the romanticism of the Christmas story. We see the beauty of the manger and the barn in a wooden display on our table, a lit up Mary and Joseph outside in our front yard, or a beautiful picture of the nativity hanging on our wall. I love all of those and have some of them myself. Yet, Jesus didn’t come into a picture perfect world. He entered a world that was hostile.

The Unexpected

The Jews were under the thumb of the Romans. They wanted a Savior, a Deliverer who would beat back the Romans and free them once and for all. But God didn’t send an Avenger; He sent a baby. That baby came to a teenage girl, who should have never been pregnant. She had never been with a man. She should have been stoned for being pregnant before she came together with her betrothed. Joseph should have cast her away.

They shouldn’t have had to travel while Mary was heavily pregnant. They should have had a place to stay, a place to give birth to the Son of God. Yet, they ended up in a stinky barn with other barn animals. The first people to worship him should have been kings and rulers and the religious leaders; instead, it was some young shepherds. Mary and Joseph shouldn’t have had to run for their lives in the middle of the night to escape a tyrannical ruler, but they did.

God’s Ways are Higher than Ours

There’s one thing I’ve learned over the years in my walk with God, and that is this: God never works the way we think He’s going to. He didn’t in the Christmas story, and He won’t in your life. That’s because God’s ways are so much higher than ours.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8,9

The God of the universe chose to save mankind and send Emanuel to save us, and He did that in the form of a baby, born to a teenage virgin, in a stable of all places. God showed up in the most unexpected place.

Where is God Showing Up?

Where is God showing up this Christmas season for you? In what unexpected place is He making Himself known? I’m challenging us to watch for Him, to actively see where He is working and leading and guiding. Where is He moving in your life and in your kids’ lives? How is He proving to you once again how good and faithful He is?

So many people missed the birth of Jesus because they weren’t looking for it. You know who didn’t miss it? Simeon and Anna. They knew the Messiah was coming, and they were actively waiting and watching. When Jesus came, they both saw and witnessed the child that would save the world. Don’t miss what He’s doing in your life this Christmas season!

More Encouragement

For more on this topic, check out my post, The Backwardness of the Manger and Bethlehem or snag our devotional, Recapture Christmas: Unwrap the Mystery and Wonder of the Manger.