A SMALL PLACE OF BEGINNING

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.
Therefore He will give them up until the time
When she who is in labor has borne a child.
The the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.
(Micah 5: 2-3)

The Old Testament prophet Micah gives word of the Messiah God promised the people of Israel, indicating that the Promised One would come from Bethlehem Ephrathah.

First off, we can take note that in God's Plan, His Promised One actually comes from a specific place. God's plans are not random. He roots them in specifc grounds, He choses a particular place to start.

As a writer, I can appreciate that planning. When I'm starting a new story, I make particular choices about how it opens. Sometimes I want to set a particular place or time. Sometimes I want to show a character in a specific state of mind. The beginning is where the reader enters into the world of my characters, so I want the entryway to be at the very least accessible to every potential reader. I don't want a doorway that is hard to open, or that constantly slams shut before the reader can get through it. Accessible. And some place specific.

So, the Lord promises His Messiah will come from Bethlehem Ephrathah. Not any of the larger cities of the region: not Jerusalem, the city of the kings; not Jericho, which had been an important trading city before the Israelites under Joshua came out of the desert; not Hebron, the leading city of Judah. Nope, the Promised One would come from Bethlehem Ephrathah, which was so tiny it was not even numbered in the clans of Judah. These days, it would be like living in a village so small it didn't even have its own Post Office.

At the time of Micah, probably the only reason anyone even remembered the name of Bethlehem was because it was where the great King David had been born. But when people spoke of the "city of David", they did not mean Bethlehem, they meant Jerusalem. David came from a really small place.

But although it may have been small, it apparently was not a bad place to live. The name Ephrathah (which seems to have been applied to the general area) means "fruitful." The name Bethlehem itself means "house of bread."

A small beginning, but a good one.

God starts all of us at some particular place. He plants us in our beginnings with intention. He wanted His Son to be accessible to all of us, and so designed that Jesus' beginnings would come from a humble place. No birth into a palace and power, into fanfare from trumpets. Instead, a tiny village so small it didn't rate having its own Post Office, but which was given a name of fruitfulness.

I don't think God expects any of us to start out with a big bang. He designs that our lives be good and productive and joyful.But He also does not dispise the humble beginning - after all, its what He chose for Himself. And if He chose it for Himself, what might we look to see from our own lives? What the Lord designed for the Christ, He wants to give to those who follow Christ.

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" ... it is great in our hearts, but was small in the World. But it was where God chose to come to us. The size of the beginning does not reflect what will come from it.

Let us begin, then. Begin in small things.