No room: Christmas Series Part 10

While they were [in Bethlehem], the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7

Have your plans ever fallen through? Can you imagine going into labor or assisting someone else who was about to give birth yet not being able to find clean, comfortable facilities?

This was the situation in which Mary and Joseph found themselves. Bethlehem was packed with census travelers and the inn was flat-out filled up. No vacancy. No room. Not even a corner.

I don’t know—but if I had been Mary, I might have battled with indignation and outrage. Don’t they know who I’m carrying? The angel visited me. I’m blessed above all women. Let me see the manager right now!

But nowhere in the Scripture is there any indication that Mary thought any of these things. Instead, she and Joseph, led by Providence under the light of a lone, majestic star, humbly allowed themselves to be reassigned to a hillside cave, of sorts—some kind of shelter for livestock. There they had a semblance of privacy; there the Lord of lords was born under the oversight of mildly interested cows and sheep quietly munching hay, shifting their weight and nosing in for a closer look.

Have you ever felt that there was no room for you, your talents, your skills, your insight, or your gift? You’re in good company. The Lord entered life this very way. In fact, few people paid any attention to Him at all that first Christmas. To be sure, had Mary and Joseph been shown to the penthouse suite with the best view of Bethlehem, fussed over by servants and served the best food money could buy, the story of Christmas might have been a source of great pride for some, but it never would have manifested the simple dignity of humility—the essence of God becoming Man.

By design, God entered the earth as Man in humble obscurity. His destiny had nothing at all to do with the trappings of human power or success. His destiny was to lift up the meek and to bring down the mighty—by leading each to repentance, cleansing them by His shed blood, and creating within each one a new heart.

The question of Christmas is not: Is anyone making room for me? No; the question each of us must ask this Christmas and throughout our lives is: Have I made room for Jesus? Am I giving Him full reign of the facilities of my heart? Or am I insisting on keeping certain rooms in my life for myself? These may be uncomfortable questions to consider, but they are of eternal significance to the course and destiny of your life.

The good news is this: whoever you are, you were created with a permanent vacancy in your heart that can only be filled by the Lord Jesus. He says to each one of us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

Welcoming the Son of God into the vacancy of your heart will change your life. And as you grant Him not only room but also free reign of your life, you will be transformed to be more and more like Him (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Joy to the world! The Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.  (By Isaac Watts, 1719.)

No longer ask, Will there ever be room for me? But determine this above all other concerns: I give my life to make room for You—have Your way in me.

Lord Jesus, there is room in me for You.

Dorothy

© 2015, Dorothy Frick