what a plan!

Often I'm amazed at the intricacy of God's work.

Way back at the beginning of humankind, after Adam and Eve defied God and listened to Satan, God announced his plan to restore us. All through the Old Testament his prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah. They named names and told of places, and the prophecies included the little town of Bethlehem.

But then God chooses a couple from Nazareth, 100 miles away, to parent His son. Oops! It's the details that'll get you, right? Great choice for parents, probably, but wrong town. At least that's what I'd think if it were a human choice. But God has this detail covered too:

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth 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 2:1-5.

It's time for the prophesy to be fulfilled in Bethlehem, so God uses the vanity and pride of one of the most powerful pagans in the world to move Joseph and Mary to the place he wanted them to be. Caesar wants to put a number to his vast power and his wide-ranging conquest; Caesar could care less about Jewish prophesies or even the Jewish God. But he's working for God nonetheless. He doesn't have a choice.

That is wonderfully reassuring. What God wills in this world will be done, not just by his followers, but by any humanist or atheist or Satanist that God chooses to use. All of the shrill naysaying and disrespect shown to God by the most evil in this world amount to nothing. If God needs something for the good of his people, even the most foul-mouthed, immoral, vicious person on the globe will do exactly that.

I can rest confidently in every word of God's promises, because at the right time every part of the world will bend to God's will.