Here’s something you should know about God: He likes upside-down things.
Sometimes He does what doesn’t make sense to us or it’s the exact opposite of what we expect or want. This was the case with two sisters, Leah and Rachel, who were both married to Jacob. Now, Jacob was the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. God had picked Jacob to continue the family that would lead to His promised One, but Jacob had two wives, so which one of them would God use to continue His chosen family?
Leah was not a pretty girl. Jacob didn’t even want her for a wife. He was tricked into marrying her. Rachel, on the other hand, was so beautiful, like a princess, and Jacob loved her with all his heart. If you and I were to guess which one God would choose to continue the family of His Rescuer, wouldn’t we pick Rachel? Wouldn’t we look at the two sisters and decide with our eyes that she was the best?
Ah, but like we said earlier, God sometimes does upside-down things. God didn’t make His decision based on shiny hair, fashionable clothes, and long, lovely eyelashes. God chose Leah, the girl who looked ugly and lonely and unloved to everyone else. God was showing us through Leah a little what our Rescuer was going to be like.
The people of God had been on the lookout for their Rescuer for a really long time, but they had always expected someone like Rachel. They thought the Rescuer would be the best and look the best. Maybe He would be born in a giant stone palace with lots of servants, fancy robes, and sparkling jeweled crowns. Maybe He would have a strong, tall body and a handsome face. Surely His ene- mies would take one look at him and scream like little girls and hide in the haystacks. The people of God thought they would be able to look with their eyes and know, This must be Him! He is the One who will save us!
But God’s Rescuer wasn’t like Rachel. He was like Leah. Jesus was a son in a poor carpenter’s family. He was born in a stable, surrounded by stinky animals. His clothes were stained with dirt and filled with little holes. Outsiders would kick dust at His town as they passed by it. Nothing about how He looked or where He came from was important in any way, but God likes upside-down things. And His Son, Jesus, though not special to human eyes, was perfect in God’s eyes. Jesus would come in a way that no one expected, in a way that no one would have planned so that He could flip the world upside down.
Can you think of anyone else in the Bible that God chose to use, even though they weren’t the best, the most important, or the strongest?
Why would God use people who are weak, small, poor, or ugly to do a lot of the work for Him?
This Advent devotional resource was produced by The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, TX. The original resource can be found here.