The Glory of Little Bethlehem

Text: Micah 5:2-5a, John 6:41, John 6:48-58, Luke 22:14-20

All through history, the Bible gives us one account after another of God as the Meeter of Needs.

God supplied a ram in the thicket at just the right moment for Abraham and his son Isaac. A Kinsman Redeemer loved and protected the widow Ruth. There was the plant God grew up out of the ground to shade Jonah’s head in the heat. And what about that dry-land escape route for Moses and the Israelites, and the perfectly portioned manna that fell from Heaven to feed them each day? When there is a need—and often not a moment sooner—it is met.

God-as-Provider is woven in and through the pages of Scripture (it actually makes for a fascinating study if you’re up for it!). But my favorite provision story, hands-down, has its setting in teeny, tiny Bethlehem. It was one ordinary night where the world’s great, collective need was met, right on time, in the most gloriously sufficient way—God Provider became Provision Incarnate.

Just as Micah prophesied, sweet, unimpressive, too-little-to-be-worth-counting Bethlehem became the setting for the moment Heaven came to Earth.

Did you know that Bethlehem means “House of Bread”? In Hebrew, “Beth-lehem” is actually two words: “house” (Beth) and “bread” (lehem). And since the Hebrew language is read from right to left, Bethlehem is written like this:

בֵּית   לֶחֶם
bread house

When you think of Bethlehem that way—as a “bread house”—do you just sit back and smile at the truth of God’s goodness? To think that Jesus, our Great Provision, was born in this very house of provision!

Jesus is to us what the manna in the wilderness was to the Israelites. He is our Bread from Heaven, the Bread of Life we are told to hunger solely after—the only thing we need, every day.

Thirty-three years after the Bread of Life was born in the House of Bread, He broke bread with His disciples in the Upper Room. After washing their feet, He said to them, “This is my body, broken for you.” And just a little while later, His body was indeed broken. Our Bethlehem Baby, our Provision Incarnate, broke Himself for us and met our greatest, gravest need with one final breath of “It is finished.”

Friends, let’s end our time together today in quiet thankfulness for Bethlehem—for the Bread of Life who came to meet our need. He is the manna for our hungry souls, the One whom we can say with confidence has never failed us. Go to Him hungry, expectant that you will walk away full. He is enough.

For an added layer of worship during this sweet season of adoration and expectation, we’ve created a Spotify playlist for Advent 2014! You can find the complete SheReadsTruth | O Come Let Us Adore Him playlist at this link, or listen to today’s track on the player below. Enjoy!