"The Will Will Take You"

"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."  Luke 1:38

 

We all know the Christmas story of how that the virgin Mary conceived the baby Jesus, the Son of God, by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.  We know that she and Joseph made a trip to Bethlehem and while they were there, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable.  I can't help but wonder if while she was in labor if she wondered why she was giving birth then and there.  If it had been me I would have questioned, "I said yes to Your will, Lord, why am I giving birth in this stable instead of in a hospital, or my own home, or with my family around me?  Why am I giving birth to the Son of God in a stable?  Surely, I was intended to give birth in much better surroundings?  This was the last place that it should have happened."  

 

When we say, yes, to the will of God, we have preconceived ideas of how it is going to play out in our lives.  We think it will come to pass on some grandeur setting.  We think it will happen in the best of situations.  We think yielding to the will of the Lord will bring us into a perfect place and ideal conditions.  Surely, not to the back side of the desert like Moses, or hiding in caves like David, or being thrown into a lion's den like Daniel, or into a furnace like the three Hebrews, or into a pit like Jeremiah, or into a prison like Paul, or Egypt like Joseph.  

 

The thing we must realize is that when we say yes to the will of God it will not always take us to flowery beds of comfort, wealth and riches, acceptance by peers or family or friends.  It will often take us into hardships, places of solitude, uncomfortable situations, places of misunderstanding, affliction, rejection, a battlefield, etc.  But the thing we should always remember is though it takes us to a "pit" in the end it will bring us into the "palace".  Though it takes us to a "stable", we will bring forth the glory of God there.  "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)

 

Have a great day.  Don't have the preconceived idea that just because you surrendered to the will of God, it won't take you to a stable or some other unlikely, undesired place.