{"id":2519,"date":"2009-01-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/seven-days-of-316-day-1-3.html"},"modified":"2009-01-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T00:00:00","slug":"seven-days-of-316-day-1-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/seven-days-of-316-day-1-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Seven Days of 3:16 – Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado’s “3:16: The Numbers of Hope” (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 1 of the week-long devotional.
\nDAY 1: AN EXTRA-ORDINARY NIGHT
\n“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host
\nappeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
\n‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
\npeace to men on whom his favor rests.'”
\n–Luke 2:13-14
\nThere is one word that describes the night he came–ordinary.
\nThe sky was ordinary. An occasional gust stirred the leaves and chilled the air. The stars were diamonds sparkling on black velvet.
\nThe sheep were ordinary. Some fat. Some scrawny. Common animals. No history makers. No blue-ribbon winners.
\nAnd the shepherds. Peasants they were. Probably wearing all the clothes they owned. Smelling like sheep and looking just as woolly.
\nAn ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten, and the shepherds would have slept the night away.
\nBut God dances amidst the common. And that night he did a waltz.
\nThe black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep; the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an alien.
\nThe night was ordinary no more.
\nThe announcement went first to the shepherds. Had the angel gone to the theologians, they would have first consulted their commentaries. Had he gone to the elite, they would have looked around to see if anyone was watching.
\nSo he went to the shepherds. Men who didn’t know enough to tell God that angels don’t sing to sheep and that messiahs aren’t found wrapped in rags and sleeping in a feed trough.
\n–Max Lucado
\nFrom 3:16: The Numbers of Hope<\/a>, by Max Lucado (2007). Used with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado’s “3:16: The Numbers of Hope” (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 1 of the week-long devotional. DAY 1: AN EXTRA-ORDINARY NIGHT “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-max-lucado"],"yoast_head":"\nSeven Days of 3:16 - Day 1 - Content Feeds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/seven-days-of-316-day-1-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seven Days of 3:16 - Day 1 - Content Feeds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado’s “3:16: The Numbers of Hope” (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is Day 1 of the week-long devotional. DAY 1: AN EXTRA-ORDINARY NIGHT “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/seven-days-of-316-day-1-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Content Feeds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-04T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jana Melpolder\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Seven Days of 3:16 - Day 1 - Content Feeds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/seven-days-of-316-day-1-3.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Seven Days of 3:16 - Day 1 - Content Feeds","og_description":"Beliefnet is pleased to present the first 7 days of devotionals from Max Lucado’s “3:16: The Numbers of Hope” (Thomas Nelson, 2007). 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