Luke 2:1,4 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world… 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.

     

Luke takes us behind the scenes to see why things are happening as they are. Why did Jesus end up being born in Bethlehem?  Because a single powerful Roman took it into his head to have all his subjects counted, and when it came to the administration of Palestine, it was decided that every man would go back to his home town to be counted.

 

Joseph, who has just been appointed Jesus' guardian, comes originally from Bethlehem, the town south of Jerusalem known as the home of King David.  Joseph comes from that same family line so that's where he's got to go and so Mary will have to go with him.

 

Have you noticed that it's little things in life that so often determine direction and we are often moved by the little things. How much of this is the hand of God we will never know this side of heaven. All we know is that we get caught up in the affairs of life and end up going where we go, not because WE planned it but because we were carried there. I can see a distinct thread of such things in my life and when I look back I have to say they were more than mere coincidence, they must have been the hidden hand of God moving behind the scenes. That is comforting for they were good things with a good outcome. Rejoice in that: God is working for you for a good outcome!