Day 11: God even names the town where Messiah will be born
Read Micah 5:2
Micah 5:2 - But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the
clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in
Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
One of the most incredible things about God’s prophecies is how He sometimes
gives great details of what He will do. There are actually two very specific
prophecies about Bethlehem regarding the Messiah. Besides our verse above, see
also Jeremiah 31:15 which is a prophecy about the children of Bethlehem being
killed – we will study this a bit more in a later lesson.
It did not matter where Mary and Joseph were living when Jesus was conceived (a
later study). God had promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and God
would make that happen without picking Mary and Joseph up and spiriting them to
Bethlehem just in time for Jesus to be born.
Do you believe God knows or controls the smallest details of your life? And if He
does, are you still able to make choices for yourself? You cannot choose
everything in your life. For example, you could not choose who your parents
were or who your siblings are. Yet, these relationships have the largest
influence of your life in what choices you can make about who you want to be.
God’s plan will work out – your choices determine whether you want Him to work
out everything for good for you.
*What bad thing in your life have you seen God turn into good?