I had a weird experience last week. The women’s Bible study group I attend on Wednesdays at my church had just started the book of Matthew. We take a chapter each week, so for seven days prior to the meeting, we’re reading, listening to, and studying the same words over and over again.
Let’s just say, I wasn’t expecting to get much out of the first chapter.
I mean, it’s mostly a genealogy and Matthew’s very brief version of the birth of Christ—doesn’t even mention the inn, a manger, or shepherds. So, I admit my first day or so were less than stellar in needed attention to the Word of God. That’s when I realized something:
When we least expect it, God wows us.
After a few days of outlining, mulling over the genealogy (I will not post about how that affected me), and noting how Matthew refers to Old Testament prophecy, I asked myself the required question: Where is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in this passage? That’s when God hit me with this:
The work of the Trinity is evident in this passage:
- God planned it. (Christ’s coming as a babe)
- The Holy Spirit enabled it. (By coming over Mary)
- Jesus fulfilled it. (By being born)
Even so, he still chooses to work through people:
- Prophets foretold it. (Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah’s prophecy from Isaiah 7:14)
- Parents obeyed it. (Mary, as we know through Luke, had already given herself willingly to the Lord’s plan, and now Joseph, after hearing from an angel of the Lord in a dream, took Mary as his wife instead of divorcing her).
- Matthew shared it. (We would know none of this part of the story without Matthew being willing to write it down).
I almost missed what God would show me by being complacent about a familiar passage of scripture.
What are you missing today by not digging deep into God’s Word? Or, by not reading it at all? I’m so glad I stopped long enough to look for God in what I was reading, because he definitely showed up, and it made my day.
Let God make your day. All you have to do is open the treasure of the Bible and dive in.
Grace and Peace