Category: Daily Devotionals

At what point should a privileged position be taken for granted? The day after  tenure is  granted? After 7 years in political office? After thirty years of marriage?  

The wise know there is no number that is the correct answer.  Places of privilege – even in positions we might consider irrevocable – are never to be taken for granted. The whole point of the place of privilege is advancement of the good of the other. Taking advantage (that is – taking what was a shared blessing and using it primarily for your own blessing) is a surefire way to create disunity. Disunity always threatens the mutual blessing, and if pushed too far, unravels it.  

John is involved in a dialogue – or rather – a heated monologue – with the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. They’ve come out to be baptized along with their followers, but John has seen through their façade, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” The Pharisees and Sadducees thought that their position was secure.  Not only were they ‘qualified’ in the worldly sense of the term (in their academic role), but they were ‘children of Abraham’ according to Jewish law.  They knew they could trace their history all the way to Abraham, just as Matthew had done with Jesus in chapter 1. Yet John is adamant that such a qualification based on ancestry does not mean they can take God’s favor for granted. 

Ancestry may be a special place of privilege, but it is not license to excuse a lack of fruitful heartfelt repentance. God expects His own to do as He does, and what He does produces spiritual fruit. Both the inward fruitfulness of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that Gal 5:22 speaks of, and the outward fruitfulness of influencing others toward Him, and influencing society toward transformation into God’s Kingdom come. God’s children have profound and irrevocable privilege in knowing Him, but also have a profound and inescapable responsibility to make Him known! 

Years before John made such bold statements, God had spoken to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.”  Jewish leadership therefore looked to their heritage as a comfort, and it was (and is). But the point the prophet was making was that God can do the impossible, and will bring forth many children for Himself no matter how barren the situation! Abraham and Sarah were blessed, but not only for themselves. They were blessed so that through them, God might bless all peoples. Therefore, we must understand that our place of privilege is not a right to be indulged, but a blessing God assigned for His purposes, and always with others in mind. 

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.

The Apostle Paul (Philippians 2:5-7a)

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Consider how Christ treated His place of privilege. How can we do likewise for His sake?

John is ministering in the desert, and people are coming to hear him from near and far. Along with the crowds came the spiritual leaders of the people – the Pharisees and Sadducees. But who were these people? 

They weren’t the same group. Though both were influential among the people, they held differing viewpoints on Jewish spiritual thought and practice. The Baker encyclopedia of the Bible says of the Pharisee, “Josephus, who tells us that he belonged to this sect, wrote toward the end of the 1st century that the Pharisees were “extremely influential among the townsfolk; and all prayers and sacred rites of divine worship are performed according to their exposition. This is the great tribute that the inhabitants of the cities, by practising the highest ideal both in their way of living and in their discourse, have paid to the excellence of the Pharisees” (Antiq 18.15).” By comparison, the Sadducees “opposed the legal regulations introduced by the Pharisees and were saying that only the OT Law should be considered mandatory. In this, as in their stand against belief in angels and in life after death, they appear to have regarded the Pharisees as innovators and themselves as conservatives.” 

Of course, which was more ‘conservative’ and which was more ‘liberal’ is all rather irrelevant. The point is that these two groups represent the spectrum of Jewish leadership. In fact, every time we see these two together in Scripture, it is indicative of ‘people from all over the religious spectrum.’ 

Verses 7-8 of chapter 3 record John’s reaction, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” John calls the lot of them a ‘brood of vipers’. To say such a thing is no small insult. He is calling them out as the devil’s children, even as they present themselves as God’s children coming to be baptized! That is harsh. Moreover, his warning is that they must not simply go through the outward motions of repentance (as one would believe they were aiming to do). John tells them they must actually repent! 

RC Sproul once wrote, “Generally speaking, [Biblical repentance] has to do with the changing of one’s mind with respect to one’s behavior. It contains the idea of ruing. To rue something means to regret a particular action. It carries with it not only an intellectual assessment but also an emotional or visceral response. The feeling most often associated with repentance in Scripture is that of remorse, regret, and a sense of sorrow for having acted in a particular way. Thus, repentance involves sorrow for a previous form of behavior.”

Our actions always have consequences. True repentance not only has the very real benefit of avoiding the wrath of God, but produces spiritual fruit. Of course, only you and God above know whether or not your repentance is heartfelt and real, or if you are merely sorry for being caught out. But if it is heartfelt and real, repentance will do more than change your mind. It will change who you are, and that will result in changed behaviour that all around you can see. 

Repentance is mainly remorse for the share we had in the revolt that wounded Jesus Christ, our Lord. Further, I have discovered that truly repentant men never quite get over it, for repentance is not a state of mind and spirit that takes its leave as soon as God has given forgiveness and as soon as cleansing is realized. That painful and acute conviction that accompanies repentance may well subside and a sense of peace and cleansing come, but even the holiest of justified men will think back over his part in the wounding and the chastisement of the Lamb of God. A sense of shock will still come over him. A sense of wonder will remain—wonder that the Lamb that was wounded should turn His wounds into the cleansing and forgiveness of one who wounded Him.

AW Tozer

APPLICATION: Repentance

What are you merely sorry for, and what are you repentant of?

Verse 1 of chapter 3 records, “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the  Desert of Judea.” One commentator writes, “the reader is given no help in imagining how John, at least in the early stages, could have gained any audience for his message in an unpopulated wilderness area. John is being thought of as a prophet, but where the prophets characteristically take their message from God to the people, here the people must trek out into the wilderness to receive the message. This is presumably because the commerce with God which John is calling for is deemed to have its natural setting in the wilderness (as the place to initiate eschatological renewal).”

With John ministering in the wilderness, most had to walk at least a full day into the desert to see him, and that was no quaint morning stroll. It would take a strong motive and purposefulness to take time out of the normal schedule to go and be baptized by him, out there in the desert. Yet the people streamed out to him. As if to rub that point in, verse 5 says, “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.” They came because John’s message was persuasive. They were convicted by the Spirit of God as John faithfully preached what God had given him to preach, and they wanted to assure themselves they were in right standing with God Most High. In summary one might say that though John was perhaps a bit abrasive, and though he was certainly unusual, and though he was not right next door, yet it was worth the walk to experience his ministry because you were changed forever by it.

Today, many of our churches do not offer Sunday school, evening services or midweek services, and the main worship service is often a highly produced event given strict timelines, so that the message is restricted to 20 or 30 minutes. All of that is adaptation to our present culture, where church is no longer seen as central to a community’s life, but very much an optional extra. 

We who live and breathe in such a culture can easily assume that such limitations are in place because people don’t want to hear preachers anymore. That preaching has somehow become passé, like the arbor meetings of yesteryear and the tent revival meetings of old. But the speaking of God’s Word among His people is never without impact. Nor does it go long without audience. Indeed, to connect with God and hear what God has laid on the preacher’s heart, people will endure travel – even to the point of changing their schedules and suffering hardship. Even if the meeting place is a distance away, and even if the preacher is a bit unusual and not in the slightest charismatic.

People don’t stop going out of their way to connect with God. They stop going out of their way when they expect they will not or cannot connect with God. We must remember Jesus’ viewpoint, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” When the preacher faithfully and prayerfully brings God’s Word (and not just their own thoughts about God’s Word), people are changed. They remember that, they speak to others about that and they bring their friends to experience what they experienced.  

Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.

John Wesley

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How are you bringing the presence of God to others?

Leviticus 16 detailed the process the redeemed Israelites were to undertake on the day   of atonement. The day of atonement was the one day a year where their collective sin could be dealt with under the covenant they had with God. This included the confession of sin and subsequent washing with water – acts that reminded Israel of when Moses led the people through the Sea on their way to the promised land. It was a national foreshadow of the personal act of baptism, and something that John the Baptist capitalized on in his ministry. 

As one scholar notes, “The readiness with which the multitudes submitted to baptism is explained by the fact that purificatory rites by the application of water were not new nor strange to the Jews.” Indeed, the need for personal application of water in the purification of sins was detailed in Ex 19, Lev 14 and 15, Num 8 and Deut 23. Yet what John was doing was far more meaningful than a periodic ritual. His message powerfully moved people to action, and in his message John had just what was called for  – a baptism in accordance with whole life repentance. 

“Just what did John’s baptism mean? It signified a person’s willingness to turn from his or her sins and from the false belief that being born a Jew automatically put a person in right relationship with God. John announced Israel was in spiritual crisis and about to be judged. When John came with the first prophetic message in four centuries, it was only natural that as people repented, they demonstrated the sincerity of their repentance by submitting to baptism, thus publicly identifying themselves with the faithful among God’s people.”

We’ve already from the previous verses that John’s message of repentance was also consistent with the messages of Isaiah and Ezekiel and basically every other prophet Israel had ever known. The wilderness where John ministered was a further reminder of Israel’s past. Now Matthew tells us what John wore and ate. He wore rough clothes, as Elijah was known for (see 1Ki 1:8), and he ate the uncultivated food God provided, as the poor were instructed to do (see Lev 11:20–23).

 “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.  People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.”  

Though John never performed miracles, his life, clothing and ministry epitomized the whole of the Old Testament message. That is so very fitting and appropriate, as his cousin Jesus likewise epitomized the whole of the New Testament. Both call us into restored relationship with God the Father – the life we were created to live but failed at. Both call us to be His people through repentance and subsequent living as obedient children of God. One could say that in John the Baptist we most clearly see how the Old Testament message and the New Testament message are actually one and the same: We are to be God’s people, with all the privileges and responsibilities that entails!

Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith.

Watchman Nee

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What would you say is the overall message of your life?  Is it consistent with your belonging to God?  Would those around you say the same? Purpose to make  any changes necessary. Purpose to be baptized if you haven’t already. You are God’s child, and all the world should see Him and His message reflected in You!

The New Testament is birthed and steeped in the Old, for both old and new covenants   are with one and the same God.  Matthew has shown us how Jesus arrived in fulfillment of prophesy, and how Jesus’ early days were in fulfillment of prophesy. Now Matthew’s account of Christ’s birth is finished. From Jesus the infant, he jumps immediately to Jesus the man, but not before inserting the account of John the Baptist, for the story of Christ is not complete without the story of John, and this is also in fulfillment of OT prophesy. 

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” 

John is the last Old Testament prophet, and his ministry is the last of the old covenant ministries. That he preached in the desert is an immediate tip-off to all first century readers of that fact, for the whole of the Old Testament law had been given to the Jews in the desert. Moreover, David wrote many of his psalms in the wilderness and many of the prophets had ministered to the people of God in exile. John’s message too harkens back to Old Testament days. He mirrors Isaiah, who said, “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:  “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”  And, ““The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.”  

Isaiah wasn’t alone in speaking of repentance. Repentance is a key theme for all the prophets. Jeremiah said, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me.” Ezekiel said, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!” And, “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall.  Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”  Indeed, God’s constant message was and is to turn from sin. The writer of 2Kings summed up His Voice to Israel, “The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways.”

Repentance is a continual theme in the Old Testament because it was a message desperately needed in those days. It is central to John’s message because it was desperately needed in John’s day. For how can anyone meet the coming Lord with gladness if they are not ready to meet with Him?  For this same reason it is a message desperately needed in our day. 

John cried out for repentance because repentance is the only path to readiness as we inevitably come to meet God. And we will come to meet Him – even if we run in the other direction. For He is coming to meet us, and nothing can stop Him from doing so. Repent! 

It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors

AW Pink

APPLICATION: Repentance

Today, purpose to spend some time asking the Spirit to search you that you might put more of your old self to death in repentance and be more like Christ today than you were yesterday. Until that day we are made perfect before Him there is always more to repent of, and always some slight bent we had not noticed prior.

After telling us about Christ’s birth and the Massacre of the Innocents, Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist in Matthew 3:1; “In those days John the Baptist came.” But when exactly were “those days” and who exactly is John the Baptist? 

Fortunately, one does not have to guess – the Word of God is always the best authority on itself. So Luke writes in his Gospel, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.” Astonishingly, Luke records six historical time markers we can use to narrow down what Matthew meant by “those days”.  

One does not need to wonder if Matthew telling us about the days immediately after Jesus’ family moved back to Nazareth, or the days of Herod’s death, or if he is speaking about a prophetic time period. The very fact that he gives historical and verifiable periods tells us that this is a historical account, even though the phrase, “in those days” is loaded with prophetic meaning (being used 31 times in the OT). Although there is much scholarly debate as to the exact year, Bible scholars agree Matthew is referring to sometime between AD26 and AD29.  Jesus, having been born between 4 and 2BC, would have been ~30 years old & His cousin John the same (just a few months older). These are the times Matthew speaks of – these are the ‘days’ of John the Baptist.

We call John “the Baptist” because as we all ultimately are, John was defined by his calling. Even the great historian Josephus identified him as, “John, called the Baptizer,” perhaps because Luke adds this descriptor to John, “He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  It was what John did in his day that made him unique from every other man with the same name. Indeed, it is what John did to fulfill his calling that earned him a place in God’s eternal Word. For John was called to be a prophet, and his calling was prophetic ministry. This he did to very great effect. 

We also have a calling – each one of us. And we too have a time appointed for us to fulfill that calling. In the book of Acts, we read, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”  

In His Sovereignty, God determines the place and time of your birth, the religious and political climate you grow up under, and the times and places you live in. Just as He did for Jesus and just as He did for John. And just like John the Baptist, God gives each of us a calling to be exercised in our day and among the people He providentially set alongside us. 

Of course, to find our calling we have to look up and seek Him. For our identity comes from God and our calling comes from God, just as our birthplace was His choice, not ours. That is why Acts tells us we have to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him.”  Thankfully, God put us here with the intention that we would fulfill our calling. So when we do seek Him, we find Him anew and discover our calling at the same time – not only to our very great blessing, but to the blessing of all around us as we subsequently exercise of our calling.

Amen.

God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude.

Oswald Chambers

APPLICATION: Intentionality

If you know your calling, thank God for it. Exercise it.
If you do not yet know your calling, “seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him”. He has already gifted you, and His Spirit is faithful to lead you into all righteousness! 

We are but at the end of chapter 2, and Matthew has made use of much of the Old  Testament prophets. So who is he quoting in 2:23 when he writes, “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene””? It isn’t Isaiah, or Hosea, or Micah or Jeremiah – all of whom he’s quoted before. Nor is it Ezekiel, or Daniel or Zephaniah. Actually, it is none of the known prophets. In fact, if you do a word search, the idea of Nazareth does not come up until this point in the whole of the Scripture preceding it. This fact alone tells us that what Matthew is saying the prophets referred to is not Jesus’ geographic hometown, but an idea associated with the place. 

Well respected Biblical scholar DA Carson puts it this way, “Nazareth was a despised place (John 7:42, 52), even to other Galileans (cf. John 1:46). Here Jesus grew up, not as “Jesus the Bethlehemite,” with its Davidic overtones, but as “Jesus the Nazarene,” with all the opprobrium of the sneer. When Christians were referred to in Acts as the “Nazarene sect” (24:5), the expression was meant to hurt. First-century Christian readers of Matthew, who had tasted their share of scorn, would have quickly caught Matthew’s point. He is not saying that a particular OT prophet foretold that the Messiah would live in Nazareth; he is saying that the OT prophets foretold that the Messiah would be despised.”

We all have our backstory – the place and people we grew up around. For the few, their backstory is a pedigree – it speaks honour into their lives. It is a mark of privilege. For most, it means little or nothing. It is just a fact. It is as much a hindrance as an overcast day. But for some, their backstory is a hinge on which hangs much discrimination and prejudice, a weight around their necks they wish they could let go, but cannot.

God directed Joseph to pick Nazareth as the new home for his young family. In so doing, He purposed that Jesus would grow up on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ so to speak. Such would be His mark of privilege. Jesus would need to overcome inequity and bias right from the get go. 

Perhaps the Lord directed Joseph to Nazareth just because it would provide the greatest contrast. For in later years, God would be so obviously upon Jesus that His birthplace would add to the wonder at all He became and did. Like the stories we so often read of ‘the child who overcame the obstacles of their youth,” only far better. That would be so very fitting, because for e ach of us who follow Jesus the day will come in eternity when beings we have never met before will marvel at us, “You were born on earth before the Restoration!” 

A person who wholly follows the Lord is one who believes that the promises of God are trustworthy, that He is with His people, and that they are well able to overcome.

Watchman Nee

APPLICATION: Worship

We are destined to overcome, chosen to overcome, called to overcome, equipped to overcome and blessed with His Spirit to overcome. We shall overcome. Glory to God.

The common things God speaks to all people are forever written down for us. But the individual things God speaks to us – that are just for us – are also part of His Word to our lives. Matthew records this as happening over and over again to Joseph son of Jacob. In 1:20, Joseph has a dream where an angel counsels him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The angel returns in a dream in 2:13, telling him to escape to Egypt. While they are gone, the Massacre of the Innocents takes place, and at some point Herod dies. Now the angel comes again to Joseph, and God speaks to him in a dream once again after that: 

“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”  

The angel tells Joseph he should return to Israel. No doubt glad for the end of his personal exile in Egypt, Joseph does return. But there is a problem. Although “the land of Israel” includes the whole, some parts are significantly more dangerous than others. 

Unbeknown to Joseph, Herod’s will had appointed his son Archelaus – a fact disputed by Herod Antipater (Archelaus’ brother). While these matters were in the process of being sorted, Archelaus ordered the army into the temple to quell a minor uprising started in Herod’s last days over the installation of a gold eagle on the temple. History tells us that ~3000 people were killed in the resulting chaos. Caesar Augustus later confirmed Archelaus, although Caesar gave him the title Ethnarch instead of king. This limited his territory and authority, but nevertheless allowed Archelaus to rule the very people he now despised. In God’s very great grace to Joseph, He redirects him from Judea to the north, easing his fears and fulfilling prophesy at the same time. “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”   

Joseph and his young family have had to endure the social stigma of Mary’s pregnancy.  They’ve had to make the difficult journey to Bethlehem. They had to make another traumatic journey to live in exile in Egypt to avoid a massacre. Finally able to return to Israel, they find they will not be able to start a new life in Judea, where no one was aware of the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. They will have to begin in Nazareth, a backwater town in the north.  Although such continuing drama and circumstance is less than ideal, God’s care for Joseph, Mary and Jesus is evident.

If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer – His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.

John Newton

APPLICATION: Worship

Praise God, He cares for you and guides you, even during and through difficult circumstances.

God is our healer, a very present help in times of need. We all know that. Yet  there are  some hurts that are too great to be easily dismissed through the normal spiritual relationship fallen mankind has with creator God. Such a hurt forever marks us. It is carried from day to day as a great wound – like a missing part of our heart. Healing will no doubt come, but we can know that full restoration is a lifetime away. The scar will show all our lives.

Herod’s harsh order to kill all the infant boys in greater Bethlehem has been carried out.  The people have suffered a great loss. Their grief is not limited to the walls of their homes. It echos through the streets and reaches the highest heaven, as though part of their collective soul has been ripped out. Such pain is not inconsequential. Such mourning does not go unnoticed – God in heaven hears their cries. “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Read carefully how He notes what He hears, “a voice is heard” – “weeping” – “great mourning”.  God is keenly aware that people have suffered loss. More than that, “Rachel weeping.” The Lord knows the sufferer by name. 

Is it that God has not even tried to comfort them? No. In His quiet way, He has spoken to them, by His Spirit He has affirmed His love to them, yet, Rachel remains “refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” The situation continues. Rachel’s grief is so great, that the still small voice of God cannot be heard over her sobs. 

The next words in Matthew’s account are therefore all the more poignant, “After Herod died.”  

It is not without purpose that the Lord included that phrase just there. Evil – even evil incarnate – has but a season. Though it seems to last a long time, it is eventually brought to an end and dismissed forever to perish in the fires of hell. God’s elect have no such restriction – we were made for eternal relationship with our eternal God. Evil’s time always closes to be sealed forever, but healing and restoration ever await us. This is God’s truth, and we endure our grief only by focusing on God’s truths. Indeed, God’s Word tells us to encourage each other by reminding ourselves of the conclusions He is bringing about, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

May be  always be so, until that wonderful day we  leave grief and evil behind forever. 

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.

King David (Psalm 55:22-23)

PPLICATION: Thankfulness, intentionality

Meditate on our end with the Lord. Your suffering is not unnoticed – you are God’s elect.  Praise Him for His faithfulness to us, His planned restoration for us, and His judgment of the wicked. Rejoice in His promises to us, even in spite of your circumstances. Let God triumph over grief, uncertainty and fear. 

Herod purposed to manipulate the Magi into showing him where the new  King of the Jews would be born. Now he hears they have outwitted him. He rushes to order the death of every male toddler/baby in the greater Bethlehem area. 

At this point we come to Matthew 2:17-18. To date, Matthew has quoted Isaiah (1:23), Micah (2:6) and Hosea (2:14).  Now he quotes Jeremiah: “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”” 

Surely it is a tremendous understatement to say that there is no doubt that many families were greatly distraught at the outcome of Herod’s order. For what could be more upsetting than soldiers barging through your doors and killing an innocent child?  Especially your innocent child? Your son – on whom you had the greatest of hopes? Your own son, who was in all likelihood born in an answer to prayer? And now, in a moment, he is lifeless. A soldier’s sword having been plunged through his helpless body while you were held back. What mother would not have been hysterical? What father would not be heartbroken? What family would not have wondered where their God was at that moment? Indeed, where was God while this horror was being carried out?

Matthew quoted Jeremiah – a prophet who lived and ministered and spoke this Word of God ~600BC. That means that for 600 years, God was aware this day would come. What Herod decided in an instant of anger was known by God Most High, generations prior. More than that, it means that for 600 years God was cognizant of this day’s emotional damage to His people. 

In our most tragic moments, God is not far off or unaware. 

He knew the day would come, He knew the pain you would feel. He has been thinking about that pain for a very long time. Your suffering is part of the reason Jesus died on the cross. In fact, it could be said that it was in consideration of your pain that Jesus was sent to the cross. For apart from the cross, there is no freedom from such pain, only more and more grief, suffering and even more pain to be endured. All of it – like Rachel’s weeping – is part of His story, the story of overcoming His enemy, the same who whispered such a wicked thought into Herod’s ear in the first place. 

But now we rejoice instead of weep. For on account of the work of Jesus Christ the day is coming when our crying shall cease, and all grief shall be but a dull and distant memory.  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

APPLICATION: Prayer

There is a time for everything under the sun. Even time for weeping. Pour your heart out to God.