And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:31-33And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Luke 2:16-20And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11
The One Step Daily Devotional is intended to provide just one step each day for your journey with God. Every journey requires water breaks. Here is a water break for you:
The promise of the angel to Mary that we see in Luke 1 was clear: Jesus would be King. He would not just be any king, however, He would be the King whose Kingdom does not end.
Imagine being a parent-to-be and receiving a promise of that size from God! WOW! The excitement and expectation of knowing that the miracle child (born of Spirit, not man) inside of her would be King forever, saving Israel from oppression, must have been almost more than she could imagine! The expectation set by the angel was great, and if Mary was like anyone else born human, I imagine that her imagination must have run wild to think of how that promise might play out in their lives.
Fast-forward a few months, I also cannot imagine what Mary and Joseph must have been thinking when their great baby-King was born in obscurity, hidden amongst animals in a small town. How invisible they must have felt! Scripture does not tell us how they felt, but if I were them, I would be wondering a little bit about the plan and promise of God at this point.
Then, while they sat in the barn, shepherds come with a wild story of angels appearing to them to notify them of the birth of the long-awaited Messiah! Once again ignited with the hope of the promise and plan of God, Scripture says that Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. This was contrast to the wonder and astonishment of others. While they were amazed, Mary just tucked the experience away.
While Mary and Joseph must have found comfort in the fact that God had not forgotten the destiny of Jesus, they still sat in a barn. Though God had not forgotten His promises, they must have still felt a long way off.
Scholars believe that the arrival of the Magi from the east detailed in Matthew 2 could have come as many as two years after this visit from the shepherds!* The Magi came and worshiped and presented gifts suitable for a king.* They acted in ways consistent with the birth of a born King.* But, again, this was as many as two years later! Furthermore, Jesus and Joseph and Mary were not found in a palace, but in a home.* What a long time to treasure the promises of God.
Even in the moment of the affirmation of man to the promise of God, it did not look like what one would think the arrival of a king would look like, much less the arrival of the King.
When did God last speak a promise to you? How long has it been? Did it look like what you thought it would? Was there disappointment as the reality of what is does not match your picture of what could have been?
The life of Jesus all the way to the cross and beyond into our present day continues to look different than many think it should. The eternal King continues to break the picture we paint in our minds of how we think He “should be.”
Despite His unconventional arrival, and despite His uncommon life, the work of God was fulfilled in Him, bringing a salvation to the world that Mary and Joseph could not even imagine.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember that His ways are not your ways. Perhaps God wants you to trust that His promises are true no matter how long it’s been or what it looks like. Maybe God wants you to look at your life from an eternal perspective. Maybe He wants you to hold onto what you have treasured in your heart.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.
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*Keener, C. S. (1997). Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 2:1–17). InterVarsity Press.
Wilkins, M. J. (2004). Matthew (pp. 93–102). Zondervan Publishing House.
Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (pp. 33–42). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Turner, D. L. (2008). Matthew (pp. 78–87). Baker Academic.
Carson, D. A. (2010). Matthew. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew–Mark (Revised Edition) (Vol. 9, pp. 107–117). Zondervan.
Osborne, G. R. (2010). Matthew (Vol. 1, pp. 86–91). Zondervan.