UNEXPECTED

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday          Exodus 3:1-6

Tuesday         I Samuel 3:1-10

Wednesday   Isaiah 6:1-8

Thursday       Jeremiah 1:4-19

Friday            Jonah 1:1-6

Saturday        Acts 9:1-9

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, as we continue the season of Advent, open our hearts to the unexpected people in whom You will be revealed.   In the name of Jesus, AMEN

Reading:

If you had good news, whom would you tell first?

When something wonderful happens to me, the first people I want to tell are those closest to me, those most important in my life.  They have proven themselves trustworthy over time and will rejoice with me.  They’ve stood by me during difficult times, and will share in a victory.

When God had the best news of the ages, whom did He tell first?  Important religious people?  Wealthy folk?  Learned men?  Actually, no.  God told shepherds.

Why didn’t God choose the religious leaders?  Surely they would have been excited after waiting for thousands of years to meet their Savior.  Why not choose a king or a rich man whose testimony would have carried more weight?  Why shepherds?

Two reasons come to mind when I ponder that question.  First, shepherds had the capacity to be humbled and amazed that God chose them to hear the news.  Imagine how unworthy they must have felt, but how honored.  Based on Jesus’ opinion of the religious leaders of that day, I don’t think they would have had the same reaction.

That leads me to the second reason I think God chose shepherds.  After they had seen the baby Savior, they “spread the word” concerning what they knew.  They weren’t like too-cool teenagers, worried about what others thought of them.  They didn’t over-think the situation and talk themselves out of telling the news.  They were exuberant, overflowing with joy and probably still reflected a bit of the glory of being with Jesus.

You know what happened when those uneducated, simple shepherds spread the word that a Savior had been born?  People were amazed!   God is His infinite wisdom chose just the right group of people to entrust the greatest news of eternity.  Those humble men took the Good News of Jesus and did just what God wanted them to do – told others, and their lives were never the same.

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2010/12/23/why-god-told-shepherds-first