So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was also expecting a child. Luke 2:4-5
What an inconvenience. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem is eighty-five to ninety miles by the shortest route (through Samaria). Whether on foot or riding a donkey, the trip would take several days and would be difficult for a pregnant woman. To bring the journey into perspective, think of a place eighty or ninety miles from your home. Then imagine walking that distance—and then walking the return trip. Even mounted on a donkey, it would be an unpleasant journey.
This young couple may have wondered why? Why is this happening Lord? This is her first baby...Your son. Wouldn't it be better to give birth at home, with our families, with her mother to help her? Why now?
It would have been a costly journey as well for this family who had little to begin with. And potentially dangerous due to bandits along the way.
But maybe, just maybe, God was preparing Joseph and Mary for another journey they would need to take. A journey that would not only have them leaving their home but leaving their country.
Not more than two years later, the Jewish King Herod would find out about Jesus being born (from the wise men) and would do his best to kill him. "When they (the wise men) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew 2:13-15
Often times the Lord works that way. He allows a difficulty, an inconvenience, a problem to enter our life in order to prepare us, train us, get us ready for something in the future. Something we have no idea about. Something that will require quick obedience and unfailing trust in the Lord. But just as God was with Mary and Joseph on both of these journeys, He is with us also no matter where we have to go.
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