There are so many examples of this in the Bible, but none better than Abram. In Genesis 15, God speaks to Abram:

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1 ESV

Abram had just turned down a great reward from the king of Sodom. How hard must it have been to turn that down? But here, God is telling him that there is even greater reward! Then God let’s him know that his offspring will outnumber the stars, as the guy is in his 90’s. If you have been trying to have children for that long, it’s pretty easy to see that you would think that it is not going to happen. Yet, with faith, anything is possible. We see here that we are rewarded for our faithfulness:

 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 ESV

How cool is that? Personally, from my reads, I know that God has something cooking for me. I don’t know what it is yet, but by faith I know that it is going to happen. It’s probably something that nobody, even myself, would think possible from me. But, I have faith that it will happen and I am fired up! How exciting is that? I’ll keep you posted…

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.”

Ladies, being a man and having been through this process a couple of times, I can tell you that it is torture for us too. Being with the woman that we have become one flesh with (Genesis 2:24) going through that hurts beyond belief. But, I get it: we will never go through that kind of pain and I am not going to argue. Trust me, we feel the pain, but just in another way.

Which leads me to Luke 2 where Joseph and Mary need to travel to Bethlehem for the census. . Having read the story numerous times during the Christmas holiday, we tend to focus on the birth of our Savior and the joy that it brings to us, which we should. But reading tonight, I started to think about what Joseph and Mary had to go through. Can you imagine:

• Joseph: Ah Mary, we have to go to Bethlehem to register for the census. Are you ready to go?
• Mary: WHAT? I am going to give birth any time and we have to go WHERE?
• Joseph: Yeah, Bethlehem. I know it is going to be tough riding a donkey 20 miles, but we have to do it. I will do everything I can to make it better for you.
• Mary: How about you try carrying God’s child for nine months and then ride 20 miles on the back of a donkey? That would help. And by the way, where are we going to stay?
• Joseph: Um, I’m not sure. We can find somewhere to stay when we get there…

Well, you know the rest of the story and if you don’t, check it out. They stay in a manger because the inns are all full. And at the end of the day, it is a beautiful thing. After all of that, the shepherds tell Mary about what the angel told them and she is full of joy:

19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19 ESV)

Then when Simeon, a man who had the Holy Spirit upon him says:

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32 ESV)

Joseph and Mary feel the ultimate joy:

33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. (Luke 2:33 ESV)

You may be asking, what is your point? What I got out of today’s read is that from the hardest trials that we have to go through (chid birth is one of them from what I read) come the greatest rewards and from humble beginnings come great things. No matter what you are going through, that little baby can give you hope and you can get through anything, considering what his parents went through to get him here. Thanks Mary and Joseph.