(1) God can show up in the oddest places.  They not only worked in the fields, they lived in the fields.  What kind of wages?  What kind of benefits? They had the best job at the time because God showed up there. If God can show up, how should that affect how I view my situation??  They were growing where they were planted.

(2) Fear is not the worst thing that can happen. They were "greatly afraid".  This was no small fright!  And hey this was a group acquainted with danger!  Most of us try to hide or deny our fears.  Sort of smother them. Fear is a lot like anger.  We can learn a lot about ourselves by looking honestly at our fears.

Is it not interesting that Proverbs says "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..."?  Water and electricity can bring us great benefit.  But they can kill us.  Wholesome healthy fear is a life-protecting thing.  The shepherd's waited for God's okay to stop fearing.  Have we heard God's okay to cease our fears?

(3) Sometimes it pays to hurry. V16"....they came with haste..".  God is not often the author of hurry.  But sometimes He is.  He told Moses "Arise, go down quickly...", when they had made the molten calf.  The angel told the women "...to go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead."  6 times in Revelation, Jesus spoke of coming quickly.           Bro. Roger