Verse of the Day for December 16

This chapter is read in almost every carol service. A few verses later comes For unto us a child is born. But before the child, Isaiah reaches back to an old story: as in the day of Midian.

Midian was Gideon's battle. God sent home most of the army until only three hundred were left, holding trumpets and jars and torches. The yoke was broken not by the strong but by the few.

That is how God tends to work in this chapter. A great light, yes, but shining on people in the land of the shadow of death. A kingdom without end, yes, but arriving as a baby. The rescue is enormous. The doorway into it is small.

Feeling small is not a disqualification. It may be the exact size God likes to use. Three hundred men. One young mother and a manger. One ordinary person reading this with a heavy shoulder.

Whatever yoke is on you today, the debt, the grief, the job that drains you, remember that the God who broke Midian with a tiny band is not waiting for you to grow bigger. On the walk to work, hand him the burden as you are.

Small is not too small for God.

The light shined on people who were still in the shadow.