And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah,the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:8-14)
Did you ever have amazing news you wanted to share, only no one is around to listen? So you call your spouse. No answer. You call your best friend. No answer. You call your second best friend, and on down the line….no one answers. So…you just say it out loud and tell yourself. Not quite as much fun….but hey. It’s such amazing news you want to shout it from the rooftops!
So…God had a baby! His Son was born. The culmination of years and years of types and shadows, prophecies and foretelling, and finally….at long last….Messiah is born. This was some really great news, and no one really even knew it was happening! God really wanted to tell someone.
Who does he pick? It wasn’t the celebrity down the road. He didn’t talk to the most important and influential people of the day. He didn’t appear to the High Priest, you know, the man of God. The person you would expect to hear from God.
It was shepherds out in the fields at night just doing their job. They were just minding their own business when suddenly an angel appears in the sky and starts talking to them. I’m sure they were rubbing their eyes and poking each other. “Did we really just see that? Please tell me you saw that too!”
God interrupted their mundane night, their night-after-night routine, with amazing news. No one else got to see the angels and hear the news firsthand from heaven. What an honor!
Those Shepherds responded with faith and went to check it out. Then they told everyone what they saw and heard. The Bible doesn’t say if anyone believed them or not. I mean…it does sound a little crazy, right? But how do you keep something like that to yourself? I’m sure if they had an iPhone they would have been taking selfies with the angels in the background because the boys at Dunkin’ Donuts were never going to believe this! This was definitely an Instagram worthy moment!
From the end of Malachi to the time the angel appeared to Zechariah, there were 400 years of silence from heaven. They had years of foretelling of the coming Messiah. There were centuries of God speaking to His people. Then nothing. Then this…the most amazing miracle of all time heralded with hosts of angels from heaven! God really knows how to do a birth announcement, doesn’t He?
You may be in a time of silence right now. You have a promise…a Word from the Lord…something He spoke to your heart, and then you have nothing. Silence. But stand strong. Silence doesn’t mean God isn’t working. He may just still be working in that hidden place, like we talked about yesterday.
God is working on your behalf, setting things up for your miracle. He is arranging times and seasons and places of destiny for you. He will break what feels like a long silence out of the blue….maybe in the middle of your most mundane day…and your miracle will turn from faith to sight. You can trust Him. He is faithful who promised.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:26-28 Message)