What do you do when everything goes “all wrong”? Like when you pray for God’s help in specific ways and everything goes exactly contrary to your petition…?
Reality is, it may all be going exactly right. It’s just hard to see how — till all’s said and done. I’ve seen that in scripture, and I’ve seen that in life.
Take the “Christmas story.” Two “wrong” things jut out like broken sticks:
1) Two Bible genealogies of Jesus… that don’t “agree”!
2) “No room at the inn…” or anywhere else decent…
“Wrong Thing” #1:
Luke 3:23-38 gives Jesus’ genealogy. Or does it? What about Matthew 1? After David, these two sets of “begots” differ totally.
It seems a mistake.
And yet…
Their difference actually helps prove baby Jesus to be the prophesied Christ!
Matthew’s genealogical listing culminates with “And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.”
It doesn’t say “and Joseph begot Jesus”!
Joseph’s genealogy does show he had royal lineage—but a great problem mars his family line. According to Jeremiah 22:30, no flesh-and-blood son of Jeconiah would ever rule as Israel’s King—and Joseph descended from Jeconiah (Mt 1:12-13)!
Mary’s line given in Luke (as R. A. Torrey’s Difficulties in the Bible shows) reveals Jesus was descended from David through her, but not through Jeconiah!
Together, these two genealogies also point to Christ as fulfillment of Genesis 3:15’s seed of the woman, and Isaiah 7:14’s virgin conceiving and bearing a special son.
What at first glance seems to prove error instead verifies precise prophetic accuracy!
“Wrong Thing” #2:
What about “No room at the inn”? If God prepared so thoroughly for Christ’s first coming, why couldn’t Mary and Joseph find any decent place in Bethlehem to birth the King of kings and have to settle for some old cave or shed?
The little city seemed totally unprepared for Him!
And yet…
There are other scriptures…
Zechariah 9:9 foretold His earthly humility. Micah 5:2 prophesied his birth in lowly Bethlehem. And Isaiah 1:2-3 just may foreshadow His bodily stay on earth beginning in about as humble a place as it could offer: a feed trough made of mere rough wood—like the cross…
Isaiah 1:2-3 speaks of the “Master’s” “crib.” How often I read that scripture without connecting it to Christ’s first bed! Comparing its Hebrew to Luke 2:7’s Greek word translated “manger” verifies that both mean the same thing.
And Luke 2:12 tells of angels giving shepherds a sign. A boy’s birth in a house or inn is no sign, just an ordinary happening.
Jesus’ lowly start in life also helped obscure him from Herod long enough for Joseph to make safe His and Mary’s escape to Egypt (Mt 2:13-18).
Perfect preparation, and place.
What about in our lives today?
A wondrous example just unfolded this past month for a new online friend I gave “risky” counsel. Nerve-wracking money shortfall was besetting her like what I described happening to me here and here.
Through blogging, comments and email, I learned of her financial desperation—and sent her to those two posts, telling how God worked out my problem when everything seemed going wrong. I encouraged her to hang on and trust God—to the last minute.
I prayed.
Then I got the jitters!
What if God didn’t do like He did for me?
Almost frantically I kept awaiting news of some surprise provision. Nothing.
Then appeared this post.
Read it and see how God does it again!… by working through things going “all wrong,” exactly the opposite of what she’d asked…
…
Did God ever work unexpected blessing for you in this way, through things seeming to go exactly wrong?
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Linked to
He’s always doing incredible things like this, isn’t He? Thank you so much for sharing these stories, Sylvia!
Yes, Mary, He is! (if we give Him the opportunity—or get so desperate we have no other choice)! I keep getting astounded at the way He will interact and intervene in our little lives!
Beautiful tapestry of words here, Sylvia!
What’s beautiful to me, Pam, is your example of faith, showing that we can trust Him even when things seem “all wrong.”
Thank you, Sylvia. We both know, trust is moment by moment. But God never fails… 🙂 And if we can share our stories to lift others to that in their own lives, that is His gift. Your stories are a beautiful testimony to His heart…
You could have them read my blog for the whole past year, Sylvia. January 6 2012 I was fired from my job. Everything seemed all wrong. In reality it was “all right”. The proverb comes to mind that says “There is a path that seems right to a man, but the end, thereof, is destruction.” Proverbs 14:12 I thought I was on the right path and it was all wrong. God had to yank me from its grip. He did and I am in such a better place.
Thanks for the exegesis on the genealogy of Christ. I will take time to digest that later. Right now we are going to sit down to sauerkraut and pork over potatoes (as soon as I get it on the table). Happy New Year, dear Sister in the Lord.
Dawn
In hindsight all the difficulties of life had a purpose. Difficult times are the things that great people are made of. God’s glory is what our deliverances should point to as yours do.
The sovereign hand of God is in all things and calls us to live above our fears. Fear is the enemy and a powerful tool of the enemy. Why should we fear the world that relies on God to either cause or allow all things? He works things our for His glory in our lives. He has no fear of walking us smack through the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death! It is our witness to His power and glory that march through it unscathed regardless of who is against us in this world.
To God be the glory. I appreciate your passion in sharing the truth of our Father.
And your stories, too, Pam. Those stories are so important to pass on, don’t you think? They are the kind of testimonies I think scripture is speaking of when it says to share what great things He’s done for us. He has saved us for eternity, but has nevertheless kept us walking about here on this earth to live out trust in Him and testify to others what great things He does in little lives right here. How great His love! It was others’ stories like this that gave me courage to trust that love.
Boy, is that right, Dawn! This past year: for you it was the worst of times, it was the best of times, in so many ways, wasn’t it?
(So I invite any comments-readers to click on Dawn’s name in the comment above and go poke around her blog to see what she means. )
You have summarized here so well how it all turned out to be exactly right when it had seemed so exactly wrong! Blessings!
Thank you, Floyd, for such encouragement and truth. Truly, fear IS the enemy, and when those knees are knocking it’s hard (maybe impossible) for little wimps like me to trust Him as we should. So how do we keep putting one foot in front of the other to walk that walk of faith? You said it: It’s Him walking us through, marching us through. What we really need to do is reach up and grab His hand, to let Him hold us up, hold us firm, and lead us on. (And even in order to do that, I often pray, “Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief!” And He does!) Good words.
God’s plans and not always “our plans.” He knows what is best and our part is to follow and trust. Thank you for your special story at Tell Me a Story.
So true, Hazel. Thanks for taking the time to stop ’round and comment, and to provide your link up. A blessed New Year to you!