"The Unlikely Places"

     Where we least expect to find God will usually be where He is most present and active.  "A virgin shall conceive" declared the prophet (Isaiah 7:14).  Or, a baby will be where babies never are.

    The miraculous entrance of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world proclaims to our hearts that we must open our eyes to see His light in those venues, circumstances, and situations that seem impossible to serve as the wombs of grace.  Virgins conceive, as it were, in countless ways and means for the trusting sons and daughters of God in Christ.  We ask God to accomplish that which is only doable to His heart and hand.  We discover His willingness and ability to reveal Christ where Christ seemingly could not be.  Indeed, "a virgin shall conceive" speaks not only historically of Mary and the Child of the Spirit formed in her, but also to the contemporary realities of Christ as conceived by the Spirit in our lives.  "God… calleth those things which be not as through they were" (Romans 4:17).

   Before Mary experienced the Spirit's overshadowing and conception, the Lord first told her of His purposes.  "Thou hast found favor with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus" (Luke 1:30-31).  At first troubled by the angel and puzzled by his pronouncement, Mary proceeded to trust God: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord.  Be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).  Thereby, God conceived His Son in the virgin womb according to faith in the virgin's heart - "blessed is she that believed" (Luke 1:45).  Thereby, God accomplishes the same in our lives as we trust the promises of Scripture regarding the unlikely places where our Heavenly Father purposes to reveal and glorify His Son.

    Our natural tendency involves the expectation of Christ in the likely places.  Our calling involves the expectation of Christ in the unlikely places - "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness" (Psalm 112:4).  Anticipating our Lord's presences and involvement in those circumstances, situations, and conditions wherein He cannot possibly be comprises much of the life of faith to which our Father calls us to see His light in the darkness.  Long ago, a virgin discovered such grace and power as she believed, and in this day, we shall discover the same as we join Mary in believing the Word of God regarding the frequently surprising venues of the Son of God…

"For with God, nothing shall be impossible."

(Luke 1:37)

Weekly Memory Verse

   And this is love, that we walk after His commandments.  This is the commandment, that as ye have heard from the beginning, so ye should walk in it."

(II John 1:6).