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GOD'S GUIDANCE Heavenly Father, thank You for speaking to me through Your Word. Help me to be still and listen to Your voice, Your guidance and Your heart that I may know Your perfect and life-giving will. Amen
M ATT HEW 1 : 1 8-2 5; 2:13 -15 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
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When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ 13
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he Christmas story contains a surprising glimpse into the way God guides those who trust in Him. When the Lord was about to turn the lives of Mary and Joseph upside down, He revealed His plans to them at different times and in different ways. Mary received advance notice from the angel Gabriel that she would conceive the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit (LUKE 1:30-35). But Joseph, her fiancé, seems to have received no word from God at that time. Later, when he learned of Mary’s pregnancy, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’” (MATTHEW 1:20). Later, when the Child’s life was in danger, it was then to Joseph that God spoke, saying, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt” (2:13). Such is the mystery of God’s guidance. Mary was told beforehand and Joseph had to struggle with what must have seemed a crushing blow. Then Joseph was given the responsibility of saving his family. But no matter when God’s word came to them, Mary and Joseph both faithfully obeyed. They didn’t tweak God’s commands to be more comfortable, neither did they hesitate (despite their doubts and fears). As they heard God speak, so they obeyed. We cannot predict all that the Lord wants us to do, but we can be confident that He will guide us. And, like Mary and Joseph, we must be ready to follow His leading. o DAVID C. MCCASLAND
[GOD] SAID, “TAKE THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER AND ESCAPE TO EGYPT.” . . . SO [JOSEPH] GOT UP, TOOK THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER DURING THE NIGHT AND LEFT FOR EGYPT. MATTHEW 2:13-14
Read today’s passage again. What stops you from having the desire and zeal to follow God’s leading as promptly as Joseph, even when you don’t fully understand it? Lord God, You are my strength; Your grace is sufficient day by day. Give me the confidence in Your Word and Your Spirit to willingly follow where You lead.
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