“And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” Luke 2:6-7 NLT
The words that jump out of this text to me are, ‘…the time came…’ After the years of waiting and hoping, after the months of expecting, the time came! In so many ways for Mary it must have felt like the wrong time. Pregnant before she was married, having to travel when it was her due date, no lodging available, danger, inconvenience, ‘God, this wasn’t what I planned or hoped for!’ And yet Jesus was born at exactly the right time in history, and in exactly the right place. God’s ways are not our ways, and His plans are rarely comfortable or convenient to what we imagine they should be. But, in the midst of our unanswered questions He can always be trusted! His Word can be trusted, His timing can be trusted!!
Once in royal Davids city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.