Humble Beginnings
READ
Bethlehem wasn't on anyone's radar. If you were predicting where the Messiah would make His entrance, you'd probably guess Jerusalem—the capital city, the religious center, the place of power and prestige. But Micah's prophecy pointed to a tiny, insignificant town that most people had never heard of and wouldn't bother visiting.
Let’s take a moment to read Micah 5:2-4:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
“Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.”
“He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.”
REFLECT
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah..." Even the prophecy acknowledges it—small, overlooked, nothing special. Yet this is precisely where God chose to launch the most significant event in human history. The King of Kings didn't arrive in a palace nursery; He arrived in a feeding trough in a forgotten corner of the Roman Empire.
This tells us something crucial about how God works. He's not impressed by what impresses us. He doesn't need our size, our platform, our perfect circumstances, or our credentials. In fact, He seems to prefer working through the small, the humble, the unlikely—because that's where His glory shows up most clearly.
Think about it: God chose a teenage girl from Nazareth, not a princess from Jerusalem. He announced the birth to shepherds, not to political leaders. He picked fishermen as disciples, not religious scholars. Over and over, the biblical story shows us a God who bypasses what looks impressive to work through what looks insufficient.
This should encourage those of us who feel ordinary, overlooked, or under-qualified. Maybe you're not the most talented person in the room, don't have the most impressive background, or are facing circumstances that feel too small or too broken for God to use. Bethlehem says otherwise.
God's pattern throughout Scripture is to take small seeds and grow them into something that feeds multitudes, to take a boy's lunch and multiply it beyond imagination, to take weakness and display His strength. He's less interested in our impressiveness and more interested in our availability. He doesn't need us to be extraordinary; He needs us to be willing.
The humble beginnings of Bethlehem also remind us that God's kingdom doesn't operate by the world's metrics of success. We're constantly tempted to measure our worth by visibility, influence, and achievement. We compare our behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel and feel like we're falling short. But Jesus entered the world in the most humble way possible, and that matters.
What if the small acts of faithfulness you're doing—the ones nobody sees or celebrates—are exactly where God wants to work? What if your ordinary life, in your ordinary town, with your ordinary resources is the perfect place for God to express His love in extraordinary ways? What if the very things you think disqualify you are actually what position you to experience God's power?
Bethlehem teaches us that God's love isn't expressed through impressive displays that keep us at a distance. It's expressed through humble, accessible, relatable means that draw us close. The God who could have descended from heaven in blazing glory chose to arrive as a vulnerable baby because He wanted to be approachable, touchable, fully human.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
How does God often work through small, humble circumstances in your own life?
What "small beginnings" are you tempted to dismiss that God might want to use?
Where do you need to trust that your ordinary faithfulness matters to God?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
God, forgive me for underestimating what you can do through small, humble beginnings. Help me see my ordinary life through your eyes and trust that you delight in working through the overlooked and insufficient. Give me the faith to offer what I have, knowing that in your hands, it's more than enough. Amen.