The Blessing of Inconvenience
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Luke 2:1-7 (NIV)
There may be times in your life when you’ve said to the Lord: God, You can’t expect me to show up and be great right now. You can’t expect me to offer a smile with the hurt that I’m feeling underneath the surface. Are You really asking me to show up and give energy when I feel so depleted with all that I’m carrying and the pain that I’m tending and the way I’ve been disregarded? You want me to deliver for you right now?
Mary teaches us that God’s stirring in our lives is always a revelation of right timing, even when it’s the “wrong” time. Even if the time may be inconvenient to you and unsettling for you, remember it is always subject to God’s sovereign authority.
If God is poking you, moving you, stirring you, agitating you, allowing pain, and producing labor, then part of nurturing faith is to accept the inconvenience of it all and understand it as a blessing.
Mary had every right to question God’s timing, to question God’s placement after already having reconciled her womb being surrendered to God and her human love interest being put at risk. The inconvenience Mary experienced happens to us as well, and we can get really frustrated if we don’t carry spiritual discernment about it.
In your life, when things are unfolding strangely and when you’re forced to show up in uncomfortable and inconvenient spaces, when you have awkward encounters with people, when you have to perform, when you are far away from normalcy, just keep reminding yourself that God is doing this other thing that doesn’t need your agreement or your convenience: God is doing this other thing that needs your obedience. You honor Him by fighting to be great for Him—even when you’re being severely inconvenienced.
Stop treating the stuff that’s happening to you as if God doesn’t love you or that God is mad at you. Recognize that there are times when God is doing other things and your inconvenience is simply a part of it.
