Treasuring Uncertainty
Read Luke 2:8-20, 2:41-52
God created me to be a very logical, ordered person. I see the beauty in His creation when life follows the predictable processes that He puts in place. Nothing is more miraculous or beautiful to me, for example, than how a woman’s body can change in just the right way at just the right time to create and sustain life. But what happens when logic fails? What do I do when I can’t understand the “Why?” in God’s plan for my life?
In reflecting on the birth and early life of Jesus in Luke 2, I can imagine Mary felt overwhelmed and didn’t understand all that was happening to her. “OK, God, your Holy Spirit gave me a baby even though I was a virgin…why couldn’t you also create a little space in Bethlehem so I could have this baby inside a house?!” But Mary’s response to the incredible events surrounding Jesus’ birth is one that we should notice and put into practice ourselves.
After a host of angels appeared to some shepherds in the fields and told them to go and see Jesus, Luke 2:19 says, “Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.” After twelve-year-old Jesus was missing for three days and eventually found in the temple discussing Scripture with the religious teachers, Luke 2:51 says, “his mother stored all these things in her heart.”
If a bunch of strangers showed up clamoring to see my newborn baby, or my twelve-year-old son went missing for three days, my immediate response is probably not going to be calmly meditating on what happened. But when Mary was presented with circumstances she couldn’t understand, she stored it in her heart with faith that God would reveal answers to her one day, if needed. As we encounter the difficult moments in life that we can’t understand, may we make time and space in our busy schedules to stop and intentionally store it away in our hearts so that one day, God may grant us understanding.
God, thank you for being a God that gives wisdom and understanding. May we take the difficult times in life when we don’t have the answers and treasure them in our hearts with faith that you will give us the understanding and wisdom we need. Amen.
Shannon King is a ministerial student in the Tri-State District of The Wesleyan Church. She is involved in Women’s Ministry, AWANA, and adult Growth Groups. She is also a full-time mom to two young boys and wife to her amazing husband, Jason.
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