Usually I hate those nights when I just can’t seem to fall asleep. I close my eyes and try the counting sheep thing, to no avail. I open my eyes to see that an hour has gone by and I am just as wide-eyed as I was before. Last week I had one of these nights. Actually it was morning, it was 4am. I decided to get up, sit in “my chair” that faces my large picture window that I talk frequently of, that looks out over my gardens. Although the leaves are long gone and the trees are bare, the flowers with all the color gone, I am still as drawn to this place as ever. There’s a stillness here that resides year round, a peace that I can’t seem to find anywhere else, even in other parts of my own home. The beauty is still remarkable and I am once again awestruck by God’s tender, yet majestic creation.
4am the sky is darker than I have ever seen it. The stars so intensely bright they seem closer than I recall. So close, in fact, they seem touchable. I lean back in my chair, pull my blanket up to my chin trying to keep warm this freezing night in mid December and let my mind drift. It drifts where it never has before, to the night of the three wisemen following the bright star that led them to our newborn Savior, Jesus.
I have read and heard the “Christmas Story” countless times in my life but never once have I wondered what the trek to that stable in Bethlehem was like for them. I have focused so much on the outcome of the story, picturing baby Jesus in a smelly old stable and Mary and Joseph cradling their beautiful son. I've wondered what they talked about that night. I've wondered what fears, hopes and dreams they had for Him, knowing that He was their son and at the same time their Savior. I can’t really begin to imagine, except to say I would have been a blubbering mother…so honored, so proud, yet so fearful for what would come a short 33 years later: His death and resurrection. But this night, I thought about the wisemen, specifically about the star they followed.
Matthew 2:2 refers to the star the three wisemen followed as “His star”. How was it set apart from the other stars in the sky? Was it brighter, bigger… Did any other shepherds watching over their flocks see it too? If so, I wonder why they didn’t follow it too and if they did, why aren’t they mentioned in the story? Did they think they were disillusioned due to lack of sleep? These questions forced me to be more alert than I would have hoped at 4am.
I pulled out my Bible rereading the account of that very night in both Mathew and Luke. I was unsatisfied with the information left. I wanted to know more. I’m a detailed girl, you know. A few words from those passages have lingered in my mind since that sleepless night. Words like: “sign” and “His star”. Digging deeper that night, to understand their importance brought such a quickening to my heart which, in turn, caused me to spend the remaining hour of that evening, praising the Lord! (What a way to begin the day!)
The Greek meaning for the word “sign” means “the finger marks of God, valuable not so much for what they are as for what they indicate of the grace and peace of the Doer.” Oh that the Lord would tenderly, eloquently, mercifully reveal his fingerprints to us in such remarkable ways. The story of the wisemen following the star to the birthplace of our Savior is incredible in itself and certainly isn’t just a story to be read and pondered during the Christmas season. It also points out that sometimes in the contrast of the night, we can best see the glory of God. The difference from feeling as if you can reach out to touch the stars, partaking in such glory on a crystal clear night is the fact that you actually can. Allow yourself to be consumed by the glory of God, by the invisible hand that placed the stars in the sky. It’s easy to be consumed by the “sign” itself…that’s where we make the mistake. Inhale His glory deeply, let it wash over you and enjoy the gift you have been given.
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