The Goat From The Stable

SPIRITUAL GROWTH ENHANCERS

REF NO: 009

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6-7

THE GOAT FROM THE STABLE

It doesn't matter your little beginning, you can rise from the stable to hero. Little beginnings don't determine your future. You can rise from grass to grace, from disgrace to glory and from nowhere to somewhere.

The stable life is low. Jesus rose from low life to hero. How you started does not matter. You can also start from low life to hero.

Nazareth was an uncelebrated, forgotten town located in the north of Jerusalem (well beyond Samaria), southwest of the Sea of Galilee, and a very small community. Nazareth was a typical remote village, a ghetto for the underprivileged and low people in Galilee.

Being so small, and not adjacent to major cities, it was the last place one would expect anything interesting to happen. Calling someone a "Nazarene" would have been like referring to them as a "bumpkin," or even a "hillbilly."

Nathaniel's question is more than a little sarcastic. He assumes that Nazareth couldn't produce much of worth, let alone the Promised One. He expressed the common Jewish sentiment in the first century (John 1:46): Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nazareth was a place nobody respected in Israel. According to archaeological conclusions, it boasted no more than 150 residents. That was the village Jesus came from. It was the same town He grew up in. It was that same village he emerged as the world's most famous and celebrated hero.

As a growing little boy in La, a town in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. There lived a very funny old man. He was very jovial, easy and fond to be with. He was loved by all the children because naturally he loves kids and is fond of kids.

We used to play with this lovely old man.

Usually, when we see him we'll give him the shout accolade, "Vera, Vera" and he would respond "always happy, the man was supposed to be born in America but unfortunately born in Ghana, not better place, Palmwine Junction".

You can laugh out loud. Palmwine junction is a popular local area in the La township. That is where the man was born and bred and had lived there a lifetime.

NO PLACE FOR THE COMING KING, THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD

John 1:1-14 tells us that the universe was His. He created this world and everything in it including the animals and humans in it. Yet, when he was coming to us there was no room available on earth to accommodate Him.

The mankind that He created in His image and coming to save from sin, death and eternal wrath said to him: "We are sorry, there is no place among us here for you to be born and we are too busy with our census and prestigious Jewish festival so you can check up with the animals in that stinking manger. We don't have your time".

THE ANIMALS GAVE HIM THEIR PLACE

Then the coming Saviour and creator of the universe went to the animals to ask of they could allow Him to be born there. Fortunately, the animals said YES to Him.

The coming Saviour had to be born in a manger because there was no place in the inn.

It doesn't matter who says no to you and it doesn't matter who will turn the back at you in your time of pressing need. Your God can even animals to answer your need. You don't have to keep the focus on those who promise and fail you. Stop crying over anyone who disappointed you. When a door closes, another door opens.

Any man or woman who devalued you in a relationship or marriage cannot stop you. God can fix you to a new place where you will be received and valued in high esteem.

The animals had to accommodate Jesus because the people to whom He was coming to save did not make any accommodation for His arrival.

Just like the old man "Vera, Vera", you wish you had the power to choose your origin of birth. You wish you had the power to determine the country to be born in and who should be your biological parents. But listen and listen good: it doesn't matter the condition surrounding your birth. It doesn't matter whether you are born to rich parents or poor parents. The family you were born to cannot stop your destiny.

We are talking about a young couple here, Joseph and his newly virgin wife Mary. About 80 miles from home in Nazareth. In her womb resides the Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit. Yet, it was the animals that gave their bedroom to welcome His birth.