"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth… Ye shall find the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Genesis 1:1; Luke 2:12).
The Bible opens without fanfare, pomp, or circumstance, stating as a simple matter of fact that God created a universe more vast, infinitesimal, beautiful, and complex than our minds can begin to fathom. In like manner, when the Lord Jesus Christ entered the world He made, a feeding trough for animals rather than a palace purposely served as the abode of His welcome.
We must accommodate ourselves to this quiet and unassuming way of our Creator and Redeemer. Certainly He parts a Red Sea and stops the sun in its tracks when necessary. Most of His working, however, involves monumental activity accomplished in ways that even the most devout among us often miss because He works so unpretentiously. The Lord Jesus came "without form or comeliness" in His incarnation (Isaiah 53:2). He continues to meet us most often in the reserved manner that necessitates our walk by faith rather than sight (II Corinthans 7:5). Hoping for frequent displays of the openly spectacular thus sets us up for disappointment, while also making less likely our recognition of the Lord Jesus in the mangers of our lives. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" (Genesis 28:16).
In this life, and far more in the next, we shall sometimes behold dazzling displays of Divine glory, splendor, power, and wonder. We give thanks for such as we fall to our faces in amazement. Presently, however, we more often behold the same glory, splendor, power, and wonder in small and shadowed ways easily missed if we look mostly for the dazzle. I suspect that even in eternity to come, we will find much of God's glory quietly manifested as His humble heart shines forth in humble modes and manners. In that day, we will possess far better eyes to see and far humbler hearts to appreciate the displays that offer little fanfare, pomp, and circumstance, but much wonder of so great a God, possessed of such meekness and lowliness (Matthew 11:29).
"The LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire, a still small voice.
(I Kings 19:11-12)
Weekly Memory Verse
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless Thy name forever and ever
(Psalm 145:1)
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