For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end…Isaiah 9:6

One of my favorite versions of the Christmas story is Child of the Promise, a musical production of the birth of Christ written by Stormie Omartian. It was originally produced with big-name Contemporary Christian artists and combines beautiful lyrics with the most meaningful story ever told. Probably the deepest lyric set in the musical is that of Joseph & Mary when they arrive at the inn and can’t find a place to sleep for the night, entitled I Wanted All That For You.

The way I thought that it would be
Is God would make your
pathway smooth
Our steps together would be easy
I wanted that for you
The way I thought that it would be
Is God would take all pain away
Our lives would happen perfectly
I wanted that for you
Oh, I wanted all that for you

Joseph is expressing his desire to Mary that he wanted it to be easy, not complicated, and that he assumed since Mary was chosen of the Lord that their pathway would be smooth and uncomplicated. Can’t we relate to that assumption?

Our lives are directed of the Lord, and He has desires for our life that we surrender to and say “yes, Lord, use me! Any way you want, please!” but then we question when the path gets rough. How many times do we forget to be grateful for the journey in the middle of our pain? We question His plan because we want our lives and the lives of those we love to be painless and smooth.

We’re familiar with the passage in Jeremiah 29:11 that says “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” We like that part. We say “yeah, Lord! You have it all worked out.” But if you continue to read in verses 12 & 13, it’s for a greater purpose: “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to You. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that if our pathways were always smooth and painless we wouldn’t even want to seek Him with all our heart. OUCH. That statement hurts, but it is true, isn’t it? We need Him. We can’t make it without Him. Due to the presence of human will and choice, sin is present in our world and that creates imperfections. If our lives were perfect, we would be perfect, and we would have no need of a perfect Savior.

“For unto us.”

Jesus was born as a gift unto us. A gift of a perfect Savior who would not make our lives painless, but would make a way to give our lives purpose and a promise of a perfect heaven to come.

Would that I could make your pathways smooth, but I can’t. He can.
One day, one glorious day, He will return and take all our pain, but until that day, we hold fast to the belief that He wants all of that for us.