Month: December 2024

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If You Could Choose Anywhere and Any Time…

Imagine if you could choose where, when, and under what circumstances you were born. If you’re perfectly fine with how things worked out for you, that’s great, I’m not trying to make you unhappy with your upbringing. But think of the possibilities. Many people would probably choose to be born to rich parents, or maybe to royalty, or if nothing else, in a nicer climate or better location than where you started out.

Of course, we have no way of choosing where or when we’ll be born, our ancestral lineage, or the circumstances of our birth. It’s something we all accept as being beyond our control. That’s what makes it so hard-hitting when we look at Old Testament scriptures to see “before-it-happens” predictions of where and how the Messiah would be born. There are a number of Bible verses describing the coming Christ’s future birth:  

Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Genesis 49:10 – The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Micah 5:2 – But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Isaiah 11:1 – There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Now aside from the virgin birth part of it, I can see how a skeptic might say “well, okay, but if you make enough predictions, you’re bound to get something right.” You know what? I agree with that. Here’s the thing, though. The verses listed so far only pertain to Christ’s birth. When you add in predictions about the Messiah’s demeanor, about His riding on a foal, that He never suffers a broken bone, the nature of His death, etc., you start really narrowing the possibilities down in a way that excludes random chance. While it might be possible to fulfill a few of them by chance, things start to get mind-blowing when someone comes along and fulfills all of them.

I heard somewhere that the odds of anyone fulfilling all the prophecies related to the Christ were fewer than one in 80 billion. I think we get desensitized from movies about how astronomically unlikely it is to overcome such odds. The computer virus gets beaten. Han Solo successfully navigates the asteroid field. Tom Cruise saves the day. Let’s bring this a little closer to real life. The odds of winning the MegaMillions lottery earlier this week were a little better than 1 in 303 million. If those odds remained the same from drawing to drawing, you’d hit the MegaMillions jackpot over 260 times before reaching the same level of likelihood as a single individual fulfilling all those messianic prophecies.

Even if you don’t believe in God, you’ve got to admit there’s something a little unusual about that. The inference is that Jesus Christ is the predicted Messiah. If that’s true, it has massive implications for you and for everyone you hold dear. Why don’t you take a closer look into it?

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Veterans and the Christian Life

After I left the Air Force, I spent some time as a contractor working for the Department of Defense. The DoD is a lot more than just people in military uniforms. There are also government civilians and government contractors. (Military members normally move around to different assignments every few years, so government civilians are there longer term to provide continuity. Government contractors are more of the “hired muscle” who bring specialized skills, highly sought-after knowledge, and/or certain kinds of experience.)

As you might imagine, many of the folks working as civilians or contractors in the DoD are veterans. I’ve met men and women who have seen or done all kinds of amazing things. I’ve heard some of them tell stories that left my jaw on the floor. Sometimes it seems like they survived epic events by pure luck. Other times they displayed true heroism. I’ve met a lot of people who spent a great deal of time stationed underground in a missile silo, ready for the command to launch a nuclear strike. I knew a guy who, years ago, witnessed a car careen off the road into a canal, jumped in and dove to the bottom, waited for the car to fill with water so the pressure equalized, then opened the door and pulled the lady out to safety. I’ve known people who disarmed or intentionally detonated explosive devices. I know a dude who parachuted into Area 51. I met someone who used to take apart and put back together portions of nuclear weapons. I met a guy who was portrayed in the movie “Blackhawk Down.” I once worked with two guys who initially met when they were engaged in a firefight…against each other.

One of the fun things about working in an office environment with a bunch of veterans is that, even when the stress factor gets cranked way up, many of them keep their cool. When the tempo really picks up and deadlines loom, they move as fast as they need to, but they don’t seem perturbed. I heard someone explain why once. “I’ve been shot at. This ain’t stressful.”

It’s nice to work with people that have such a clear view of what’s important and what’s not.

It got me thinking, though. Christians should have a similar mindset, shouldn’t they?

What if we looked at it this way? We’ve been rescued from a destiny of eternal condemnation. We make mistakes over and over again, yet always receive forgiveness when we’re truly sorry. We have the opportunity to share this life-giving miracle with others. We serve the universe’s King. Our Lord empowers us to do things we can’t even anticipate. He protects us from eventualities that are not assigned to the same future as us.

It’s December. In many ways, this is the busiest, and most stressful, time of the year. Remember why we really celebrate Christmas. It’s because we take time to remember the event that changed history forever, and was the beginning of the end for Satan’s reign on Earth. If you’re a Christ follower, you’ve been saved from an eternity of suffering, so don’t sweat the small stuff. “I’ve been condemned to, then rescued from, Hell. This ain’t stressful.”

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Now That Everyone Abandoned You…

Have you ever been worn out, backed into a corner, and devoid of allies? Your own attitude may be your ticket out of a bad place.

In 1 Samuel chapter 30 we read of David, before he was king. On the run from King Saul, he had linked up with, and began leading, 600 men in raids against neighboring enemies of Israel. Building on his success as one of Saul’s most prominent army officers, David’s success continued as a bandit. It ended one day as he and his band of outlaws were away from their home base (a place called Ziklag), leaving it defenseless.

Earlier, in 1 Samuel chapter 15, the Lord had commanded Saul to completely wipe out a people called the Amalekites. Saul chose not to obey God, and one of the consequences of that disobedience was a group of Amalekite raiders attacking Ziklag while none of the warriors were around to defend it. The wives and children of David’s band were all taken captive and carried away as prisoners.

When David’s men learned of it, some of them wept and wailed until they had no more strength left to continue weeping. Their despair turned to anger, and right or wrong, they directed that anger at David. Whispers began spreading through the camp; they began talking about stoning David to death.

At this point David didn’t seem to have anyone he could rely on. Not only was he on the run from the king of Israel (who had more than once tried to pin him to the wall with a spear), he had also been kicked out of a land providing him sanctuary despite his exemplary behavior because high-ranking officials didn’t trust him. Now, as his own two wives were taken from him and he was at a very low point in his life, his own group of thugs began to turn on him too. He had no earthly partners he could count on. Demonstrating why he was known as a “man after God’s own heart,” he did something in 1 Samuel 30:6 we can all take a lesson from. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

There may be times in your Christian walk where it feels like everyone’s turned their back on you and you’re walking alone. Aside from God, you might very well have no other help. It might come down to your ability to encourage yourself that the Lord is still in control, and He has a reason for putting you through the struggles you’re facing. Place some encouraging scriptures in places you’ll see them regularly, find some devotionals and daily encouragements that hit the right spot, and spend time in prayer. Pour your heart out to God; it’s okay, tell Him how you feel! David had plenty of honest sessions with Him, too.

After this low point in the story, David spent time inquiring what the Lord would have him do. That’s an example we should follow. God led him out of that tough time, and David was stronger as a result of having gone through it. Though things are hard, hang in there! God won’t abandon you. Encourage yourself in the Lord, so even when everyone else abandons you, you still have faith in Him.