Hearing God's Voice-2

We are still in the same narrative surrounding Jesus' birth, as there is another interesting concept in hearing God.

Matthew 2:19-23 :: THE RETURN TO NAZARETH

After Herod had died, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream in Egypt, and says to go to the land of Israel as those trying to take the child's life are dead.
On the side, take note that God speaks anywhere and everywhere, as long as we are willing to listen! Here He spoke in Egypt, a place which is alien to God's works.

From the above verse, it seems it was more than just Herod, who sought to kill Jesus.
Perhaps this explains why 'all of Jerusalem were disturbed with him' (vs.3).

So, Joseph takes the child and his mother to the land of Israel.
Along the way, he hears that Archelaus (son of Herod) is the ruler in Judea.
And he is afraid to go there.
The angel had told him to go back to Israel and that the child's life was 'out of danger'.
But here we see Joseph thinking logically ... if he really was going to a safe place!
The question to ask is: Is there a place for us to use logic & common sense, when God speaks?
Read on, to see what else happens:

And when he was afraid to go in, he was 'warned' in a dream again that night, and in response to that he withdrew to Galilee (meaning he went back) and lived in a town called Nazareth.

We don't know exactly what was revealed to him in this 2nd dream; but it was A WARNING (vs.22).
But the story gets interesting, because there is a combination of 'divine leading' & 'human thinking'.

Most of the time we think when there is divine guidance, we shouldn't use our minds.
And here we see the contrary, and it is vindicated by another visitation by the angel.

This also seems like a conflicting guidance by the angel in the first place.
Didn't the angel know (or God, who was the source of the message), that Herod's son is ruling - and that there could be potential dangers?

Whatever happened, we also see that Joseph's fear and withdrawing to another location becomes a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy (vs.23) - that he would be called a Nazarene.

How can this be???

Personally, I don't believe that God speaks anything that which is contrary to what He has spoken already.
At face value, it may seem like it.
And many times we stop there and that's where the puzzle/mystery becomes unsolvable.

I firmly believe there are 2 different types of GUIDANCE portrayed here:

GENERAL GUIDANCE & SPECIFIC GUIDANCE:

The first one is GENERAL, and the 2nd one is SPECIFIC.

1) GENERAL (vs.20) - the angel's encouragement was for him to go back to the LAND OF ISRAEL, which is very general. The angel didn't tell Joseph, where exactly he was to go. It could have been that Joseph assumed he was to go back to the same old village where he came from; and based on that assumption he was headed in that direction.
Along the way, he realizes that things might not be all that well in his home-town.

And then he has another dream ...
2) SPECIFIC (vs.22) - And this dream perhaps was more specific as to where in the land of Israel he was to settle.

The timeless truth, we can draw out of this is the fact, unless we obey the general guidance, we will fail to see the specifics.
It's like setting out on a journey. We know where we are headed, but we don't need to know the specific direction. But as we head out, there is more clarity and it becomes one step at a time.

I don't think Joseph would have had this specific guidance, if he didn't set forth from Egypt, on the basis of the general guidance he received!

This is not to say that every time God speaks, He speaks this way.
But at times, when He does, we shouldn't be confused!


This takes us back to the thought from the Christmas special about the wise-men tripping, & that hearing God needs to be followed right through to the end.
As we step out in obedience to the first call, we will receive the next lot of guidance, as appropriate.

The first set of guidance might NOT be the END-ALL & BE-ALL.
It becomes crucial that we keep hearing and keep following Him.

Another eg: Abraham offering his son, Isaac (cf. Genesis 22)
Initially, he was asked to sacrifice his son at Mt. Moriah. As he set out in obedience and was about to sacrifice, he heard another voice 'not to sacrifice his son'.

Now, which one is God?
He could have been very confused!!!!
He could have well chased the demons out of the 2nd voice, saying, 'Get behind me satan, God has asked me to kill my son Isaac, and I am going to do just that!'

But in the end, though there were 2 different kind of guidance, both happened to be God! And it only happens as we seek and commit to hear Him right through, and NOT SETTLE FOR HEARING HIM JUST ONCE!
Imagine what would have happened, if Abraham would have settled to hearing God only once?

Are we settling for something which we heard a long time ago? God wants to speak to us afresh & He wants to keep talking and showing us little by little.

As we step into the New Year, let's press-in to keep hearing.
May this year bring new revelation of who our God is, and may we be stirred to keep hearing Him and following Him.

Hearing God's Voice-1

The X'mas special thought about the wise-men tripping & running ahead without following the star, stirred a thought about HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD and OBEYING IT RIGHT THROUGH to the end.

Its one thing to hear the voice of God and it's another to obey it!
Most of us settle for the first part and we take pride in the fact, that we have heard His voice.
Though that poses a challenge in itself - I mean, hearing God's voice - it's NOT as simple, as we might want it to be.
The interesting challenge is obeying what we just heard.

For our next thought, we remain in the same narrative which explains the birth of Jesus & the issues around it.

Matthew 2:13-18 - THE ESCAPE TO EGYPT

God orchestrates events in the lives of men to weave His great plan. And many times, it's left upto us to follow His lead, to see His Sovereign plans unfold.
Earlier, we saw the visitation of the angels to the wise-men with an urge NOT to return to King Herod.
Surprise, surprise - they obeyed!

Now the angels go about the next step in God's plan, ie: to warn Joseph about the impending assault on the children.
Note that the angels give a reason for the urgency (vs.13). Joseph obeys.

And by the time Herod realized (vs.16) he was foxed, almost 2 yrs. had gone by.
We don't know for sure how long Herod waited for the Magi to return, before he realized he was cheated; but when he realized he had been outwitted by the Magi, he goes wild and orders a massacre.

So, what happened during these 2 years from the time the star first appeared? Let's check out the sequence of events:

* The Magi followed the star & went to King Herod (vs.2,3) - could not have taken more than 3 days! Let's say it took 1 week

* They stayed there until Herod called for his counsel & found out about this new-born King (vs.4-8) - don't know how long it took!! But this might have taken a long long time, going by other events which took place!

* they continued following the star, when they realized the baby is not in the palace (vs.9,10) - perhaps 2 to 3 days here - let's say another week.

* they found the baby & worshipped Him (vs.11) - probably a day here!

* warned in a dream to go by another route (vs.12) - maybe the same night they saw baby Jesus!

* Joseph warned in a dream, after the Magi left (vs.13) - seems like it was right after the wise men had gone - probably the same night or a day later!

* Joseph took the child and the mother immediately that night (vs.14) - probably the same night, when he had that dream

* Herod waiting patiently for the Magi to return (vs.16) - let's be generous and say he waited for a full year!


Going by this, the 2 big chunks in time are:
1) (vs.4-8) - when the Magi's stayed at the Palace, until they knew they had to move on
2) (vs.16) - when Herod waited for the Magi to return with the news of having found the baby that was born.
Even if we say he waited for a year (which is a long time to wait, when one is anxious!), the fact remains that these wise-men perhaps stayed put in the palace for a long time.


When we cease to follow the guidance of the Lord, not just us - but many feel uncomfortable & there are tensed moments.
A parallel to this is the way the sailors faced the rough sea, due to a disobedient Jonah in the boat.


What are we still waiting for?
If God has spoken, let's be obedient and keep going with Him.
Assumption along the way will end us and others in trouble.
But it's not just to avoid the consequence that we are called to obey; but the promise of blessings which is in store, as we walk in obedience.

May the dawn of the New Year bring new hope and new joy as we pursue the high calling in our lives.

Wise men can trip too - BUT, we don't have to!

Matthew 2:1-12
The Visit of the Magi / 3 Wise men

The advent season is always a good time to read the story of Jesus' birth.
As I was reading through that story yet again, I was quite intrigued when I read the verses above, as to what constitutes to being 'wise'?
The normal criteria which we might want to list down is not evident in the lives of these 3 wise men.

We know nothing about these 3 men, other than the fact, they came from the East and they were wise - supposedly 'learned'! They knew how to read the stars and signs and interpret the times.

There is an old saying in Tamil, "Even the elephant can slip".


1) vs.2 - these men first of all, assumed the 'King of the Jews' must be born in a palace.
It's a natural assumption for anyone to make - so, let's excuse them here.

2) vs.2b-8 - when the King heard that the magi's had come to worship the new born King he was disturbed & all Jerusalem with him.
Reason: There was no baby born to Herod, at the palace.
Going by historians, Herod was insecure and had this fear that he might be dethroned by another, who is not from his lineage.

It's strange that the entire nation is disturbed by this news. Why?
Perhaps, they didn't want a coup!


Given this background, King Herod calls for a meeting of his counsel and finds out more about this King who was born.
Then he summons the magi's in SECRET and finds out the exact time they saw the star first, and tells them to make a careful search for the child and let him know, so he too may go and worship the child.


Look here: When the wise men mentioned that they came to worship the child to Herod, he and entire Jerusalem were disturbed by that statement; but how come the 'wise-men' were not disturbed by this news from Herod?
Surely, they should have sensed something - but they didn't!!! Very strange.

- And what were they doing there anyway, all this while?


3) vs.9,10 - When they realized that Herod's response was not in the affirmative, they continued on with the star leading the way.
- The star lead them in the first place, but then they assumed and headed off to the wrong place (that's what we call, 'running ahead').

Now that they didn't find what they wanted at that place, they continued following the star again.
Why didn't they do this all along???
It seems like the star was always out there to guide them.
But they stopped following.

Running ahead sure messes up things not just for us, but for many others as well.
A little later, we read that there was a massacre of boys less than 2 yrs. old (vs.16-18), as per the time given by the so-called wise men to King Herod in secret!


4) vs.12 - it took a visitation from God, in the form of a dream, with a warning for them to return by another route - otherwise, they could have well messed it up again.


When God guides us, He wants to lead us too!
Many times we assume a lot along the way and loose focus on His guidance and leading.
Here assumption, got the better of the 3 wise men.
I can understand if it is just one guy messing it up, but 3 of them, all at the same time? Well, it's possible, and with wise-men at that!

Let's take NOTHING for granted. Hearing God and following Him is a process, which shouldn't stop. It's ongoing. Let's stick to it!

When we wander off, it takes a while to realize that we are in the wrong direction, but God waits for us patiently to return.

May this season bring new hope for all of us; and may we all move forward into the New Year with a renewed hope, as we commit to follow Him and in His steps.
Let's not run away from His leading or His guidance!

Merry Christmas!!