By Gevan Spinney
This past January I found myself in the little town of Bethlehem. As I looked over the fields that lay just outside that city my mind began to wonder a bit as I sang to myself those familiar words, “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.”
This very spot has found it’s way onto several pages of our bible.
It was in this spot that Ruth gleaned in Boaz’ field.
It was in this spot that David tended his sheep.
It was in this same spot the angels announced to the shepherds the “good news of great joy which will be to all people.”
In each of those instances God used unlikely people to bring Him glory.
Ruth was a Gentile girl from Moab, yet God had a plan to weave her unlikely life into His story of redemption. She would become the great-grandmother of King David and Matthew would later include her in his genealogy of the Lord Jesus.
David was the unlikeliest of Jesse’s boys to be anointed king. He wasn’t even invited into the house when the prophet Samuel came.
It wasn’t until all of his seven older brothers were paraded by the prophet, that they sent for David in that Bethlehem field. The one anointed that day was the ruddy, bright-eyed, song-writing shepherd; with the heart for God.
On that first Christmas, the angels weren’t sent to a group of priests or to the royal family, they were sent to a group of unlikely shepherds. They were blue-collared, hard-working, middle-classed men and God chose to use them to herald His good news.
Today the field in Bethlehem doesn’t look like much. There are fields much greener and places far prettier, yet God used this spot to do great things.
Each of these stories remind us that God chooses the unlikeliest individuals. There are people more talented with greater credentials and yet God continues to use those who are willing.
You may see yourself as a rather unlikely candidate, but if you are willing God can be glorified through your life. Don’t look past the opportunities this Christmas for God to choose another unlikely individual for His glory.
Gevan Spinney is pastor of First Baptist Church, Haughton, and a former president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
