He’s Gotten Us Everywhere We’ve Needed to Be

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“For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation.”

Mary’s Song of Praise (Luke 1:49-50)

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Last year, my family was on a road-trip to visit some supporting churches when our GPS stopped working. Kenna, my little sister, asked what was wrong and we explained that we couldn’t see the directions to where we were without the GPS. She replied, “oh, that’s okay. Dad knows the way. He’s gotten us everywhere we’ve needed to be!”

That was the day I learned what childlike faith is.

As missionaries, we do a decent amount of traveling. And for all the times we’d driven across states, countries even, my little sister didn’t know how we got from Point A to Point B. She just knew Dad would get us where we needed to go.

That’s the faith God asks of us. One that doesn’t fret over the details, but simply trusts in the Director of all steps, the “Lamp unto our feet” (Psalm 119:105).

The Complication

The issue is that trust is hard. And I honestly wonder why. He is God, after all. We have every reason to trust Him.

But it’s hard. Because we aren’t prone to trust. We’re prone to doubt and to question.

This is why He says we must have faith like a child. Because children don’t need details. They just need a trustworthy source of direction. And, I think, this is also why He chose to come as a child. To teach us that we could trust the Father…Jesus put Himself in a position of having to trust the Father too.

He put Himself in a place of having to say, the Father, and the Father alone, will get me everywhere I need to be.  

If God the Son, in His humanity, had to trust God the Father…don’t we?

He’s gotten us everywhere we’ve needed to be. Do we trust Him to continue to?

He Has Helped His Servant Israel

After she visited Elizabeth, Mary sang a song of praise, part of which I have pasted below…

He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His offspring forever.

– Luke 1:51-55

I love to compare this passage with Psalm 89.

You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. […] Of old You spoke [“] I have found David, My servant; with My holy oil I have anointed him, so that My hand shall be established with him; My arm also shall strengthen him. […] I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. [….] His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before Me.Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.”

 – Psalm 89:10; 19a-21; 23; 36-37

There were about 400 years between Malachi – the last prophet of the Old Testament – and Jesus’ birth. In all this time, as far as we know, there was silence between God and man.

But, if you look back in the Old Testament, there are countless times when the Lord commands the Israelites to make stones of remembrance to pass down stories of His faithfulness from generation to generation.

Mary may not have stumbled upon an actual altar built during the Israelites’ desert wanderings, but her soul certainly stumbled upon stones of remembrance while she searched out the heart of God.

The Psalmist wrote about God scattering His enemies; Mary said He scattered the proud with the strength of His arm.

The Psalmist wrote that David was holy and anointed in God’s eyes; Mary said He exalted those of humble estate (could this be David? A shepherd?) and brought down the mighty (Saul? A king?).

The Psalmist wrote that the Lord’s offspring would endure forever; Mary said that He had spoken His faithfulness to Israel forever. That one is my favorite. Despite 400 years of silence, Mary said God would help Israel “as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.”

In His silence, God was still speaking.

And Mary heard God’s voice in the silence, because she remembered His faithfulness. She remembered Abraham being told to “go” on the promise that the Lord would get him everywhere he needed to be. She remembered Israel’s wanderings in the desert, rejecting God, yet returning again and again with the hope that Yahweh would get them everywhere they needed to be.

Mary’s words are powerful and full of quiet sincerity. She simply says…He is talking; I will listen. He has gotten us everywhere we’ve needed to be. He will continue to.

Let the Little Children Come

This year, I have been realizing how absurd the Christmas story is.

I mean, think about it…it’s one of the most dramatic, unexpected storylines anyone could think up. It’s downright chaotic.

There’s a messy romance, a prophetic plot-twist, a complicated census, smelly strangers and their sheep appearing at a random baby’s birth, angels popping up right and left, dreams of warning, running from a massacre, cross-cultural moves, and representation of just about every single social status existing at the time.

And it all happened just as it needed to. Everyone fell into place, just where they needed to. Jesus came to earth just when He needed to.

That’s no human’s work. It was God’s faithfulness alone.

Years later, Jesus told His disciples – many of whom were, themselves, young, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). The kingdom of heaven belongs to children.

Because only children have faith enough to let God get them to the kingdom.

This is especially convicting, for me, with all of the future changes and plans coming up now that I’m graduating high-school this year. I’m challenged to think differently about the Christmas story…to come to it with the heart and mind of a child.

Because Christmas isn’t just about one day of celebration.

It’s about one life of surrender.

And I want to join the little ones’ simple faith.

Because He’s gotten us everywhere we’ve needed to be.

And now He is beckoning, “Come, all ye faithful…”

Will we come?