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.

1 comment:
Hi Rajan,
Just been reading your article on hearing God's voice 2 it was great and well constructed thoughts and a good take away application for the year.
Bless you and many best wishes for you and your family this year.
James k.
Arusha, TZ
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