Unexpected: Heavens Plans Hidden in Plain Sight
The Messiah arrived in the most ordinary, inconvenient, upside-down ways... not because God is vague, but because our expectations are narrow!
The Messiah arrived in the most ordinary, inconvenient, upside-down ways - not because God was vague, but because mankind’s expectations were so… narrow. Jesus was the fulfillment of every prophecy; and yet, He didn’t look like the fulfillment of the Jews expectations.
Israel wasn’t wrong to expect a King. They just didn’t expect a King who looked nothing like power. No jeweled crown. No royal entourage or army. No glory, pomp or parades or trumpeted announcements.
Yet… every detail of Jesus’ coming was foretold:
Born of a virgin (Prophecy: Is 7:14 Fulfilled: Mt 1:22, 23, Luke 1:26-35)
Born in Bethlehem (Prophecy Micah 5:2 Fulfilled Mt 2:1, Luke 2:4-7)
Out of Egypt He would be called (Prophecy Hosea 11:1, Fulfilled Mt 2:14-15)
Light to the Gentiles (Prophecy Is 42:6, 49:6 Fulfilled Luke 2: 30-32, Acts 13:47, John 8:12)
Government on His shoulders (Prophecy Is 9:6, Fulfillment Luke 1:32,33, Mt 28:18, Rev 19:16)
The signs were all there. They had every reason to see Him. But their own expectations narrowed their vision.
And honestly?
That’s where so many of us get stuck even still today. We pray for rescues and miracles… and then we completely miss them when they arrive because they come in an unexpected form… whether they are softer, gentler, humbler, quieter, wilder, less convenient, unconventional than we imagined. Or maybe we have God wrapped neatly in a box tied up with a bow that when we encounter the rescue, we think, “That just doesn’t look like something God will do.” This may be something you also feel in your bones. I know I’ve struggled with this recently:
“God, I know you’re moving… but I didn’t expect it to look like this.”
And… this all isn’t just unexpected, it’s often uncomfortable and even… offensive!
A Messiah born in scandalous circumstance (by outward appearances anyway)
A King who came through the womb of a teenage girl?
A Deliverer born in an animal trough?
A Savior raised in an obscure, “can-anything-good-come-from-there” town
A God who spent 30 quiet years doing… pretty much nothing… impressive, much less King-like.
If we are honest with ourselves, we still resist God’s unexpected ways because they are inconvenient to our timelines, preferences, reputations, and comfort zones. God is and has always been predictable in His character - it’s just His methods that are unexpected.
He always:
Chooses the overlooked
Uses the lowly
Disrupts the powerful
Redeems the messy
Rescues through weakness
So His “unexpected” ways are actually what He’s always been doing! Israel didn’t mishear / misread the prophets… they missed the Heart behind the prophecy… the most powerful, transformative part of God’s message and promises.
Most of us don’t miss God because He’s unclear. We miss Him because we are attached to our preferred version of Him. When God answers your prayer in a way you didn’t ask for. When His goodness shows up disguised as disruption. When His rescue looks nothing like relief. That’s where to look for His answers to your prayers.
This 30-Day devotional series will help readers like you return home to a God who keeps coming close in unexpected ways.. Not your traditional fluffy Advent content. It starts later today right here where you’re reading this.
I just ask you to share any post in this series that moves your Spirit or touches you in a way that you think there is someone in your world that may need to hear it. As a writer, reacting to my content, sharing it to your people, saving it for later, sending it in directly to someone, and commenting is the biggest compliment and it’s an easy no-cost way for you to help me grow as a writer and grow my audience. It also helps my content actually be visible to the people I’m already connected to!
My prayer is that this series is a blessing to you.
Thank you so much!
MelAnn
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