Matthew 2:13-15

Matthew 2:13-15

And after they went away, behold!  An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph according to a dream while saying, “After being raised up, take the young child and His mother and flee to Egypt and be there until I should tell you.  For Herod is about to search for the young child to destroy Him.”  And the one who was being raised up took the young child and His mother by night and departed into Egypt.  And he was there until the death of Herod – in order that the words that were being spoken of the Lord through the prophet should be fulfilled: out of Egypt I called my Son.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

God protects His people.  The magi were following His leading yesterday and He sent them home a different way.  Herod is about to try and kill Jesus and God protects Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.  God is a God of protection.  He does indeed look out for us and want the best for us.

Where have you felt the protection of God in your life?  Do you rely upon God’s protection?

Second Thought:

Joseph obeys.  Let’s make this short and sweet.  Joseph was asked to abandon his home, his extended family, and the carpentry career that he had no doubt spent a lifetime building.  And he obeys.  This is the one thing we can universally say is true about Joseph.  We don’t have much about him in the Bible, but he is one obedient man of God.  No wonder God chose Joseph to be the surrogate father for His own Son.

Do you think it was tough for Joseph to obey?  Could you give up everything if God asked it of you?

Third Thought:

I love the fact that God tells Joseph to run away.  God could have killed Herod on the spot.  God could have intervened in some manner.  But that wasn’t what was going to happen.  Rather than tell Joseph, “Remain strong and stable and I will protect you,” He tells Joseph, “Get out quickly!”  Here’s what I’m getting at.  Sometimes God asks us to run away.  Sometimes God asks us to get out of the way of evil so that the evil can expose itself and God will be shown righteous in His judgment of evil.  We like to think it is always our job to stand and fight.  Don’t get me wrong; sometimes the right course of action is to stand and fight.  But sometimes God wants us to get out of the way so that the true face of evil can be seen and judged and He doesn’t want us to be collateral damage.

Have you ever thought of running away as the godly move?  Would you call Joseph a coward here – after all, isn’t he obedient to God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 2:16-18