"... but you, O Bethlehem, you are not the least among the rulers of Judah... for out of you shall come a Ruler, a Shepherd for my people..."
How easy it is for us to celebrate encouraging words from the Lord when there is nothing to weep about. How believable it all is - that we are loved, that God has a plan, a purpose, that that causes us to proclaim God will never leave us or forsake us - when all is well with the world.
Later, this same Bethlehem would be ravaged but Herod's rage. His decision to move into the heart of the villages and surrounding towns and murder all children from two years old down would send up lamentations, weeping, and mourning so intensely that all forms of comfort would be outright refused.
"Out of you?" "I am not the least?" "You still have a plan?" "Your Word - still living, still active - in the heart of Ramah?"
Yes, in spite of it all, he still has a plan!
The word spoken over you in the light will carry you in the darkness. When God prophesied over the Bethlehem of your heart, do you think he didn't know the enemy would one day ravage you in its rage? You who house the "Bread of Life" (i.e. Bethlehem = house of bread), what were you thinking? You are hated by Satan. There will be times when your enemy will break into the cupboards of your being and seek to strip you of your most precious and time-honored vows, keepsakes, and treasure.
In the life over every saint there comes a "season" where - in spite of all the good things that have been spoken over you - you will refuse to be comforted. But hold firm to the Promise, my wavering saint. He has not left or forsaken you. He still loves you, he still believes in you. He is neither mocked or forgetful. Who are you to think that you are so important as to shut down God's Word, prophesied over you?
He who began a good work in you will complete it. His words to you were spoken and received in your time of light - not that you would long for the better days, or worse, use them as a standard of holiness from which you have marred. His Words breathes through you - your past, future, and present. They are given so that you would remember them, hold fast to them, and be encouraged in them here, in the weeping of your Ramah.
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