By Rev. Richard Koehneke
The greatest of all the Roman emperors wanted to maintain his supply of revenue and soldiers, so he decided to conduct a census. He thought his decision was all about troops and taxes. Wrong. He was an emperor in God’s service. He was operating at the beck and call of the one true God—a God he certainly did not worship and never would admit to serving—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God who had promised to send a Savior, His Son, whose birth would take place in Bethlehem.
Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, about 90 miles north of Bethlehem. How was God to get them to Bethlehem in fulfillment of the prophecy? Simple: Have the Roman emperor decree that everybody had to return to their ancestral home to be counted in the census. Joseph was of the family of King David, so off he went to David’s hometown of Bethlehem, taking Mary with him. “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born” (Luke 2:6 NIV). No problem for God. We say it every time we say the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty.” The great Caesar Augustus was an emperor in the service of the almighty God.
What a monumental hassle that trip must have been for Mary and Joseph! How much they would have preferred to stay in Nazareth rather than undertake a difficult journey in the last days of Mary’s pregnancy. But the emperor was the emperor, and the law was the law, and so they had to go. To Bethlehem they went, and while they were there—not while they were in Nazareth, not while they were on the way, but while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for God’s Son to be born. Thus was fulfilled Micah’s prophecy, made eight centuries before.
In the vast sweep of human history, in the great decisions made by heads of state, in some mysterious way beyond human comprehension, God is at work to accomplish His purposes. In the routine events of daily life, in the intricate details of human relationships, God is at work to accomplish His purposes. From galaxies to atoms, from emperors to carpenters, from the newspaper headlines to your to-do lists, in some mysterious way beyond human comprehension, God is at work to accomplish His purposes.
God is capable of using any person, any situation, any circumstance, to serve His holy and sovereign will. As God’s Word says, “We know that in all things God is at work for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
No matter what’s happening, God is at work for your good, to accomplish His purposes in your life. That was true for Joseph and Mary, and it’s true for you.