The empty streets of Bethlehem were filled with a quiet novelty that danced in the gentle orange splashes as the sun rose over the birth town of my Saviour.
I made may way to the specific spot that He led me to a few mornings ago - turning away from the steeple of the beautiful Nativity church and vibrant Manger square... walking in the opposite direction toward a viewpoint on the corner of busy street.
He led me through an average neighbourhood toward an average street to spend time with Him, while looking over the roof of a seemingly average house. I later found that the resident of this seemingly "average house" was a horse!
Yes, He led me to a real life, authentic Stable, a Manger in Bethlehem!
It made me think... think about the heart of our God.
After five hundred years of silence God chose to speak.
To speak in a way, unlike anything any of His past prophets ever knew. He chose to speak in a Way that will change the history of humanity forever from that day onward!
In a time filled with powerful kings and religious priests, well-versed pharisees and rich young rulers He CHOSE to speak to Shepherds.
Uneducated rejects.
Unqualified, unremarkable misfits.
Men, living on the outskirts of the town between wild beasts and lonely hills.
Men without any significant influence, power or capabilities.
Shepherds...
These were men inexperienced and unfit for the Presence of a King.
They were living in the little town of Bethlehem which was unprepared and ill-suited for the arrival of a King.
Many times I feel like I am completely inexperienced and unfit for the Presence, the Glory, the Purposes of the King.
But I saw something on the busy corner or an ordinary street, a place where a worried woman waits with her lively children for the school bus to arrive, where yellow taxis hoot and speed, where a scrawny man feeds his hungry horse in a very average stable.
I saw that Jesus came to an average place to unqualified, unfit, inexperienced people - and that this is still where you will find Him today!
The only thing that qualified the shepherds to approach and enter the Presence of the King that one starry night, was the King's invitation delivered by the host of angels!
And still today, that is the only reason why anyone could dare to think himself worthy of approaching the King of Glory.
However, the invitation to me, and to you, did not come through the mouths of angels in the town of Bethlehem...
An even greater Invitation was extended through the Blood of the Good Shepherd, the Pierced Hands and the open grave of the Resurrected Son of God!
He invites the misfits, the unschooled, the inexperienced, the ordinary and the average to come and be with Him.
There where the shadows of the pretentious steeples cannot reach, where the haughty bells of the towering cathedrals cannot be heard, it is there on busy street corners among average houses that You will find your Saviour.
There where beautiful splashes of the morning Sun dances on the desperate faces of the genuine people.
It is still among the shepherds of our age that you will find the King of Glory.
"...the Lord guards the inexperienced..." Ps.116:6
"I will invite him to Me, and he will approach Me,
for who would otherwise risk his life to approach Me?"
This is the Lord's declaration.
"You will be My people,
and I will be your God."
Jeremiah 30:21-22#