Most people would probably think that God, the creator of the universe, in his ultimate wisdom and power, would send His one and only son to earth into the arms of a super-capable and well-provided for mother. You might think he would want the absolute best for His son in the time he was planning to spend here on earth; the finest food and clothes, the best education, the purest family lineage…
But what we see is quite the opposite. There is nothing clean and simple about the birth of Christ or about the way history plays out from creation up to his birth. What we find instead in the pages of scripture are story after story of broken, sinful people who need forgiveness and healing, of failures and flaws that leave stains and scars on the family tree that Jesus adorns. Story after story of redemption.
Bathsheba, in all her beauty, was the wife of another man who suddenly found herself, whether she wanted it or not, the desire of King David and now the mother of his child. She was a woman, in a time when women had no rights or status in society, entangled in sin and shame with no way to defend herself or care for her coming child. But God saw her, as only He sees us all, and he declared her story was not over.
Whatever the pages of your story look like, whatever tears or stains they may contain, it is not over nor is it hopeless. There is a story – the most beautiful one ever written, by the most wonderful God we could imagine, that has many chapters yet untold but whose ending we know with absolute certainty. Death and sin have been defeated and Jesus Christ, born into an imperfect family line, sits now at the right hand of God preparing a place for those who choose to call him Lord and savior. And we will spend eternity with Him, perfected and made whole. No matter what your story has been or where you find yourself now, there is an open invitation for you to join the family of God and become a part of His story. Like Bathsheba, our story may not look like what we dreamed of or planned for, but God can take any broken story and make it beautiful.
Let Christ, whose blood has washed us white as snow, rule in your heart this Christmas season and for all eternity.
-Lauren