God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways.  He doesn’t always answer our prayers like we want Him to. His will does not always align with ours.

In fact, most of the time it doesn’t.

I have been thinking about the first Christmas when Jesus was born. He came in such an unexpected way.

If I was the one in charge of planning the grand entrance for God’s son, the housing possibilities certainly would not have included an animal stable or a manger as a crib.

 

Even the people back in those days who were waiting in anticipation for Jesus’ arrival, had different expectations. They were expecting a king who was going to come, take charge, overthrow the government, and establish his earthly throne.

Yet God turned the world upside down in a way no one ever expected.

My friend Brandi writes:

“Mary was ‘highly favored.’ To me that means flat road and comfortable temperatures. Yet for Mary that meant:

-Pregnant though not married (That was a cultural no-no. She could have been stoned.)

-Pregnant during the census (This required travel.)

-No rooms were available for them to stay in

-They laid him in a manger”

 

I have spent much of my Christian life trying to understand why God does what He does. I find myself trying to manipulate God’s will into mine when I pray. I try to fit God into my nice little organized “it needs to make sense” box.

But the more I try, the more I realize I can’t. And I never will. I do not have the capacity to fully understand God’s ways or why He does what He does.

I was reading “Praying Life” by Paul Miller. He said, “I do not understand prayer. Prayer is deeply personal and deeply mysterious. Adults try to figure out causation. Little children don’t. They just ask.”

Little children just ask.

Why?

Because they trust.

God doesn’t want us sit around and try to analyze Him and figure Him out.

He wants us to abide in Him. He wants us to trust Him.

The more time we spend getting to know God, the more our trust in Him will grow.

Paul Miller also says, “At the center of self-will is me, carving a world in my image, but at the center of prayer is God, carving me in his Son’s image.”

We might not be able to always track God’s hand, but we can always trust His heart.

Let’s draw near to the heart of God and allow Him to do the “unexpected” in us.