December 22: The Inn
It’s a famous line we’ve all heard before, a verse most of us have had memorized since we were kids…
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”
Luke 2:6–7
Baby Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. We’ve heard it before! It’s a beautiful detail to the humble story of the birth of Jesus. But, if you really think about the details, it might hit your heart in a new way. It might even make you want to cry.
Think about it! There was no room for Jesus.
How easy it would have been for God to clear a room for His son! God could have reserved Mary and Joseph a castle on Airbnb. He could have at least prompted a kind traveler to share their space for the expectant mother. Why in the world would God let His son be born in a stable? How did He not intervene?
Now, there’s a temptation here to think that God is mean or even careless for allowing Jesus’s less than ideal birth situation. But if we can be sure about anything, it’s that God is good. (Don’t believe us? Check out any of these verses: Exodus 34:6, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Ezra 3:11, Psalm 145:9, Mark 10:18, Psalm 33:5, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 107:8-9, Spam 143:10, Psalm 119:68, Nahum 1:7…) So, there’s no chance God was being mean to Jesus when He didn’t open up a room in the inn for Him. There is no chance that God didn’t care enough about Him to clear Him some space.
God, Jesus’s loving Father, did not love having to watch His son suffer. We can imagine His heart must have hurt watching that precious baby be laid down on rough straw. We can imagine He didn’t like it when Mary and Joseph were turned away, when the stable became the only option. We can imagine that He knew what Jesus truly deserved: a palace.
So, why did God allow it?
Here’s an answer that might rock your world: He did it because He loves you. Because He loves you, God allowed His only son to suffer. Because He loves you, God fulfilled His promises no matter how much they broke His heart. Because He loves you, He didn’t make more room in the inn.
Because He loves you, He allowed His son a humble birth so that very son could live a perfect, yet suffering-filled life that would end in tragedy–and, miraculously, victory.
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17–19
Oh, God, what love is this!
Pray: God, thank you for sending your son to suffer for me.
Further Study: Can you find any other verses about God’s goodness? Start your own list!
Interact: God loves you so much! Where have you felt His love and goodness in your life lately?
