There is a story that on July 4, 1776, the king of England wrote in his diary, “Nothing of importance happened this day.” Whether that really happened or it was just a cool urban legend is debatable, but it is true that significant moments can often take place under the radar.
Take the year 1809. The world was in a tumultuous situation. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria and blood was flowing freely. Nobody cared about the babies being born. But there were some pretty significant births taking place.
For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He would become one of England’s finest statesmen. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. He would one day greatly impact the literary world. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby’s name? Abraham Lincoln.
If there had been television or radio broadcasts or news feeds at that time, I’m certain we would have heard these words: “The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today.” But actually, history being shaped in the cradles of England and America.
In the same way, on the day that Jesus was born, everyone thought the Roman Empire, taxation, and an unhinged leader named Herod were the stories that would shape the world. But, in a small stable in Bethlehem, a young Jewish woman and her blue-collar husband held the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior, the One who would be called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
The “under the radar” birth of Jesus would shape and form human history like no one before or since. History itself is measured against His life, dividing the years into BC and AD. The glorious news for us is that God is at work in our lives under the radar as well. Even when it seems like nothing is going right and everything is going wrong, God is at work, and we can trust Him. We might not see it, and our family and friends might miss it too, but God is at work. Jesus would tell His followers, “My Father is always working and I join Him in that work.” That is such a sustaining promise in the moments when we feel like that king of England in 1776, when we feel like NOTHING is happening in our lives.
If you’re feeling like that in your life this Christmas after a year of craziness, here is a promise from Paul’s letter to the Galatians:
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” – Galatians 6:9
”At just the right time.” I love that. When will God send a harvest of blessing into our lives? At just the right time.
So, we shouldn’t give up. And here’s the cool part of this thought: what God will do in your life at just the right time has probably already started, it’s just under the radar. God had a plan for Jesus to save the world, but it took thirty-three years for just the right time. For thirty-three years it looked like nothing big happened in a stable in Bethlehem and then the world changed. And God continues to work that way in our world. We’ve just been through the wildest year most of us can remember. Is it possible that God is ready to reveal something in the near future—at just the right time—that will change everything again?
This week, as we celebrate a birth that seemed like no big deal at the time, be encouraged. God is still working under the radar in your life, and, at just the right time, He will bring a harvest of blessing into your life. Merry Christmas!