With Haste

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste ... 

Luke 2:15-16a

The shepherds received a personal invitation from the Lord. They were told that unto them was born a Savior, Christ the Lord. They were given all the information necessary to find the Savior and to know that He was the real deal. They even saw the heavenly host praising God for this wonderful news.

We sometimes have a tendency to see something amazing or to be part of a deeply spiritual moment with the Lord, only to then start questioning, once the experience is over. For example, we may see someone healed or see the Lord work in an amazing way in someone’s life, but after the moment has passed, we can start to rationalize, or maybe even forget how touched we were.

Not so with the shepherds. As soon as the angels had gone away, the shepherds did not go back to the way things were, pre-angelic announcement. The Scripture tells us that they immediately planned to go and see this thing that was told to them. And then they went. They didn’t sit and think about it for a few days, or start to question if maybe they had dreamed it. No, they went to see.

The Word encourages us to taste and see that the Lord is good: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8) This is a command. We are called to experience the Lord and to taste of Him and His many blessings. The result of doing this: We will see that He is good.

The Lord calls us to take steps of faith, to do things that may seem a bit out of the ordinary. The shepherds could easily have made excuses, citing their responsibilities, the great distance, the costs of traveling ... But, the Lord promises us that when we trust Him and His Word, we will be blessed.

May we, like the shepherds, hear the Words of God, the commands, the promises that He gives us, and may we be willing to taste and to see that He is good. Just look at how the shepherds were blessed: After meeting Jesus, they were so moved by the encounter that they told everyone they saw. God knows that when we taste of Him and His goodness, we will be unable to keep ourselves from proclaiming His greatness, and it is then that He receives the glory.