MATTHEW 2:13

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.”

TO PONDER

Did you ever stop to think about the danger that the baby Jesus faced? Not only is the paranoid king Herod looking to Kill the infant Jesus, but we hear later in the gospels, that the demons and evil spirits the Jesus encountered recognised who he was. I'm sure that Satan was at work right from the very beginning seeking to put an end to God's only son.

And not much has changed. Life this world is dangerous for those connected to or following Jesus. This should not surprise us, Jesus said it would be like that. But have you stopped to really think about How Jesus was kept safe until the appointed time of his. death on the cross?

The short answer is faithful obedience. God told Joseph to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt and so he did. God knows how to keep us safe, he wants to keep us safe. He has already told us much of what we are to do in order to live with relative safety and freedom in the laws and commandments He gave to Moses. The primary thing that stop us from experiencing God's protection is our own disobedience. When we don't go where he calls us, when we fail to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and insist on doing things 'our way' then we put ourselves at risk.

Think of it this way. When a parent tells their child not to touch a hot stove, the child can heed the warning and hence be kept safe, or ignore the warning and experience the pain and injury of a bad burn. As a child of God, what is your response to his instruction going to be?

PRAYER: Lord God, I am sorry for the times when I fail to seek your will and your ways, especially those times when I then want to complain about the poor outcomes or challenges I end up facing which are often the result of my own, well intentioned efforts. Help me to listen to you when you call and help me to trust that your path is always for my good. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle