January 31 and February 1
“Again Joseph was directed to a place of safety. He returned to Nazareth, his former home, and here for nearly thirty years Jesus dwelt, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Galilee was under the control of a son of Herod, but it had a much larger admixture of foreign inhabitants than Judea.
Thus there was less interest in matters relating especially to the Jews, and the claims of Jesus would be less likely to excite the jealousy of those in power.
Such was the Saviour's reception when He came to the earth. There seemed to be no place of rest or safety for the infant Redeemer. God could not trust His beloved Son with men, even while carrying forward His work for their salvation. He commissioned angels to attend Jesus and protect Him till He should accomplish His mission on earth, and die by the hands of those whom He came to save.”
Desire of Ages, page 66 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
The reading yesterday outlined the idea that as we are tested we are strengthened by God. I closed by letting you guess if God cared for Joseph throughout his difficult early years with Mary and his new-born son Jesus.
My suggestion that you guess was based on a few things, one, that is the way God has treated me. God has always cared for me. There is also the promise that we read in the New Testament, “Cast your cares on Him because He cares for you.”
There is another reason. I cheated. I read ahead. I’ve read the passage a few times. I know that God sent Jesus to a safe place, with a safe father and a safe mother in the care of many safe angels.
There are those who find Ellen White hard to read. There are times when she is. But then there are times when she comes up with something stirring. After we have been lulled into the picture of Jesus dwelling in the relatively safe area around Nazareth we read these poignant words,
“He (God) commissioned angels to attend Jesus and protect Him till He should accomplish His mission on earth, and die by the hands of those whom He came to save.”
God kept His Son so safe for 30 years so that we might be safe for ever! Now think about that.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
You are going to wonder where I am going with this blog, blame the dog, it was his idea. While Ludy is at a big family reunion in the Philippines I am dog sitter number 1.
I had my orders, “Don’t overfeed Milo, the dog.” Milo has his own take on that. His whole life is built around food. He stands by his bowl when I am in the kitchen. He has these eyes that simply say, “You really need to feed me because I love you very much.” Food is the greatest experience of his life.
When your life is built around one major thing that is all that you think about.
Herod’s life was built around conspiracy and defending himself against conspiracy. That was what he lived with and that is what his life was built around. When he heard of a new baby he didn’t think about presents and a visit with the wife. His thought was, “Get rid of the rival to the throne.”
What is the centre of your life? Work? Then that is what you will think about. How about a different centre to your life? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and ….” Well, I’ll leave you to fill in the rest. However you might recognise that if you centre your life on God you get a manufacturers guarantee, and so many side-benefits.
If someone tells you that you are naïve, take that as a compliment. The Magi were naïve. They simply couldn’t believe that a King would mislead them. Sadly kings are just as good at deceit as anyone. Perhaps the Magi had a more child-like attitude? Perhaps their privileged position as Magi meant that they only met truthful people?
What is noteworthy is that God made sure that when he wanted to tell His friends, the Magi, to take the direct route home He would not communicate via a star. This time the message was more direct, they had a dream. At least they could sleep, I would be too excited for dreams.
God also sent a similar message to Joseph. Perhaps Mary was too busy looking after Jesus? When God chose parents he chose a couple. Mary was not the star turn, they had equal billing. Both had gifts God needed for His Son's development.
However maybe we need to be a little bit more careful in our reading. When we think ‘dream’ we have a certain understanding. God would never communicate with me through a dream. I never remember my dreams. Some people tell me about their dreams, those dreams don’t appear to come from God. Too scary.
Both the Magi and Joseph had similar dreams. The message was given by a messenger, an angel. There were words in the message. The importance was clearly understood.
When God speaks to us the message is completely clear. When God speaks to you, a child, please listen. You will be saved from deceit.
