Position Yourself Well
This Christmas, may we intentionally slow down and listen. May we soak in the wonder that God gave us the best gift in His Son, Jesus and that by opening our hearts, we too just might be positioned to hear from Him.
Written by Sharon Adams
A silent night. A holy night. When was the last time we experienced one of
those? The Christmas season starts earlier each year and suddenly we are swept
up in the shopping, the baking, the hosting, and the wrapping. It’s a four week
tornado of white elephant gifts, school concerts, cookie swaps and ugly sweater
parties. We wake up on December 26th feeling empty and exhausted. What if…it
looked different this year?
The shepherds were out in a field, watching their sheep. They weren’t
rushing around, running from place to place, trying to complete a never ending
to-do list. They were being obedient to what God had called them to do. Being a
shepherd wasn’t glamorous work. Climbing the ancient corporate ladder did not
involve sheep. They were regular people. Ordinary sheep herders, with grass
clippings on their smelly clothes, heard the “good news of great joy” before
anyone else did. Why? Because they were positioned to receive it. They were
“abiding” in the fields nearby. God had placed them in their own private
outdoor amphitheater as the angels proclaimed the Savior’s birth and the veil
between heaven and earth became unimaginably thin.
Throughout Scripture, we see over and over that God uses the humble to
accomplish His plans. He passes over the obvious choices that the world would
make, such as when Samuel thought one of David’s older brothers would be
anointed king. I Sam 16:7, “God does not see as man sees. Man looks at the
outward appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.” David was out tending
the sheep. Ordinary David, out in the fields with his smelly sheep. Yet he was
chosen by the Lord Almighty to become the next king. God selected Mary, a
young teenager, to be the mother of Jesus. An angel appeared to her and
exclaimed, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” She was an
ordinary girl, engaged to be married to Joseph. When she finished asking the
angel how in the world this could happen, her humble response was “...I am the
servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) She
didn’t refuse, or say that she didn’t have time for such a big assignment or that
it would impact her upcoming wedding. God was calling her to do something
big, she knew it and she was positioned to receive it. Nothing else mattered.
This Christmas, may we intentionally slow down and listen. May we soak
in the wonder that God gave us the best gift in His Son, Jesus and that by
opening our hearts, we too just might be positioned to hear from Him.
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