Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us. –LUKE 2:15

The shepherds are the first of so many to decide they need to make a journey out of the routine of their ordinary lives to see for themselves something that God has done beyond their fields. They journey together to explore the new.

Explore in prayer what God has done in your life to call you beyond your “fields.

David said longingly, “O that someone would give me to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate.” – 2 SAMUEL 23:15

In a biblical anecdote meant to exalt the valor of David’s warriors, we hear the young leader’s careless words about his heart’s desire – water from home to which nothing else can compare. His warriors brave the enemy’s lines to get him that water, water that becomes too precious to drink when David realizes they have risked their lives to fulfill his wish.

This might be the day to speak carefully, knowing that our words have impact beyond what we might think.

But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. – 1 SAMUEL 17:15

David, secretly anointed to succeed Saul, cannot claim his destiny until Saul dies. Here we see his somewhat mundane existence, still tending his family’s sheep while making music for the soul of the troubled king, Saul. It is a picture of patience and duty that we might have missed.

“Back and forth” indicates tedium. Does that apply to anything in our lives?

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. –RUTH 1:19

Ruth and Naomi are coming into Bethlehem as exhausted widows, without family or means of support. They are the poorest of the biblical poor, widows, for whom the Bible is so solicitous. Met at

the city gate by Naomi’s old friends, they turn tired, worried faces to this welcoming circle.

Who needs a welcome from us today?

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel. –MICAH 5:2

Micah’s dream is of the destiny to which tiny Bethlehem is pointed. It might be home for an insignificant tribe, but it can also produce a ruler for Israel with the ability to unite all the tribes into a nation.

“David’s city” is later applied to Jerusalem, this new capital. Men will forget that the name belonged first to this site that birthed Israel’s most famous king.

It takes so little to aim a spotlight elsewhere, but Bethlehem knows her destiny. On what should we focus today?

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; –LUKE 2:4

Joseph’s family, of the tribe of Judah, would have called Bethlehem home for many generations. Part of its appeal is hidden in the Hebrew name of the little town. It means “house of bread” and so it invites us to both spiritual and physical fulfillment.

For what are we most famished as we begin this Advent journey?

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis was born 114 years ago today in Belfast, Ireland. He described this world as "enemy-occupied territory," desperate for a Savior. I suppose my favorite quote by him is, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."