The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told (Luke 2:20).

The verse of the day comes from the reading for Christmas Eve worship. It’s the birth narrative of Jesus where the angels show up to the shepherds who were tending their sheep. The shepherds leave their sheep to go to Bethlehem to see what was foretold to them by the angels.

Besides Mary and Joseph, they were the first human beings to see Jesus!

It’s a tender scene. No Christmas scene is complete without the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flock that night.

But what happened to these shepherds after they went back to their sheep? How come we don’t ever hear from them again? Shouldn’t they have been the first disciples of Jesus? Shouldn’t they have played a bigger role in the story and the ministry of Jesus?

We will never know for sure. The Bible doesn’t tell us. The gospel writers are silent about the lives of the shepherds after they saw baby Jesus.

So, what happened to the shepherds?

While the Bible is silent, we can put together a fairly good guess as to why we don’t hear about the shepherds again.

The life expectancy of the common man during the days of Jesus was mid-thirties. Very few people lived to see 60.

The most likely scenario is that the shepherds who saw Jesus on Christmas day died before Jesus’ public ministry began thirty years later.

Mary and Joseph would return to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up and lived for thirty years. That was quite a distance from Bethlehem. There was absolutely no reason why anyone from Bethlehem should go to Nazareth. Nazareth was a tiny town with a couple of hundred people living there.

Even though we don’t hear about the shepherds ever again in the gospels, the story of Jesus would not be complete without them.

The same is true for you. Generations from now will not remember much about what happened to us after we met Jesus, but that doesn’t mean you and I don’t contribute to God’s work here and now.

Keep trusting Jesus and stay faithful to the calling of Christ Jesus for your life.

Merry Christmas!

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him (Psalm 91:14-15).

Prepositions…one tiny little word…One tiny preposition can make an universe of difference.

Sometimes I feel like God just doesn’t get me.

Let me explain. Look at the verse of the day. God says, because I love him God will rescue me and protect me. I’m all about that. I like that. I like that a lot. And then he explains what that rescue and protection looks like. At this point, I am totally thinking, since God’s got my back, I’m good. I’m all good.

And then, God says, “He will call on me, and I will answer him.”

So far so good.

“I will be with him in trouble.”

WHAT?!?! Run that by me again…

Shouldn’t that say, “I will rescue him out of trouble”?

That’s what I want. That’s what I expect. But that’s not what we get. God doesn’t promise that. God promises to be with us in trouble. God promises not to leave us alone in difficulties.

See that? God doesn’t get me. I don’t want trouble. I want ease. I want no trouble.

But that’s not what we get. Because sometimes our growth and maturity depends on us going through troubled times. Our faith grows and matures when we experience that God’s presence is all we need to make it through the trials and difficulties of life. We don’t learn that lesson in ease. We don’t learn that lesson in peace. We need trouble for that lesson.

So God leaves us in trouble. But he does not leave us alone, left to our own devise and strength. God promises to be with us, to be our strength and hope.

God stays with us in troubled and hard times because God is more interested in our growth and maturity than he is in our desire for an easy life.

So, I get that God doesn’t get me. But I am okay with that. I trust God and his wisdom more than I trust myself. I don’t always need to understand in order to trust that God is good, God is kind, and God loves me.

Trust doesn’t require understanding. Trust just requires knowing that God is good. So, trust God.

“If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15).

The verse is pretty clear: if we love Jesus, we obey and keep his commands.

What’s the deal with obedience? Why is obeying God’s commands such a big deal?

The first thing we should note is that God doesn’t command obedience because he’s on a power trip. The reason why God desires our obedience is because God desires our happiness and joy. God desires our obedience because God desires to bless us.

The second thing we need to know is that obeying God and keeping his commands is for our benefit. You see, obedience is our friend. Obedience keeps us from living a life of regret. There are few things sadder than seeing an older Christian looking back at their life feeling nothing but regret for the things they did and what they didn’t do.

Obedience helps us to make choices now that we will be happy with later. Obedience keeps us from making stupid choices that we will regret later.

The reason why God wants our obedience is because God loves us, God wants what is best for us, and because God wants to bless us.

The great classic hymn writer was right:
Trust and obey for there is no other way;
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.