THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

The other day a friend in ministry shared in her prayer letter that to her Christmas is not only a time to remember the birth of Jesus but also the death of her husband. He died in a tragic accident days before Christmas a few years ago. To this day she hasn’t found the answer why God took her husband in a relatively young age.

C. S. Lewis says, “The best is perhaps what we understand the least.” Things that we understand rather easily are usually things that are of no deep or long-lasting values. Conversely things that we must wrestle with to understand are frequently things that are of deep or long-lasting values. Death—at any age—is one of them.

The circumstance that surrounds the birth of Jesus is another one. It is not easy for us to comprehend why the Son of God wasn’t even born to a regular, middle class family, or for that matter, a royal family. It’s hard for us to understand the logics behind the choice that God made where He was to be born—an animal stable. But, as Lewis says, “The best is perhaps what we understand the least.” Out of that stable in Bethlehem came out the Savior of the world.

Mary and Joseph knew who Jesus was but what they knew about Him, then, pales in comparison to what we know about Him and His salvation work today. But, they obeyed what the angel told them to do, they carried on God’s work, and they completed it till the end.

C.S. Lewis wrote those words in his book, A Grief Observed, a book he wrote after the death of Joy, his beloved wife. He and Joy were only married for four years; it ended in her death from cancer. So deep was the grief that Lewis questioned his faith. But, he carried on, placing his trust in Jesus, even though he understood the least.

Pastor Paul