Endurance for the Journey, Featured

The Sovereign Timetable

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree
that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
And everyone went to his own town to register.
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 expecting a child.
LUKE 2:1,3-5 (NIV)



Unpleasant circumstances often have a way of being the best part of God’s most magnificent design. Consider Mary and Joseph’s trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where the Savior was to be born. This was no short hike, covering over 60 miles of rugged terrain. Despite Joseph’s attempt to make the trip comfortable, it must have been extremely difficult for Mary, into her ninth month of pregnancy, to make the three-day journey.


But God decreed to have His Son born in the City of David, and He used an external circumstance – a Roman census – to get the holy family from point A to point B. Sometimes we mistakenly think that only the right things, the comfortable things, are a part of God’s design. And when inconvenience or hardship hits, we wonder what went wrong.


Maybe nothing has gone wrong. Maybe we just need to realize that our most unpleasant circumstances, much like Mary and Joseph’s, often have a way of being the best part of God’s most magnificent design. God’s sovereign timetable is working in the life of your family too.

JONI EARECKSON TADA



And we know that God causes everything
to work together for the good of those
who love God and are called
according to His purpose for them.
PSALM 34:18 (NLT)



On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky