Find Hope: Matthew 1-4Намуна

Do You Remember Your Dream from Last Night?

Matthew’s gospel focuses on Joseph and how he felt and heard from God during Jesus’s infancy. In today’s reading, Joseph received another message during a dream. Four times in Matthew’s gospel, God speaks to Joseph through a dream. I wonder if every time Joseph went to sleep, he was excited because maybe an angel would appear! Mind you, the messages he got were not always easy to hear.

In today’s reading, once again, Joseph is told that life is not going to happen the way he expected. After Herod died, Joseph and Mary would have thought, "Yes, finally we can return to Israel." Because Joseph had family in Bethlehem, they wanted to return there. But then the angel delivers bad news: Herod’s son is just as evil as his father, and so Mary and Joseph needed to go to Nazareth instead—which fulfilled a prophecy about Jesus.

Once again, Joseph and Mary could have been thinking, "If God is powerful enough to remove Herod, why didn't He also remove Herod’s son? Why is God allowing these challenges to remain?"

Whatever challenges you’re going through right now, you may want God to remove them. But maybe God is placing them on you to help you and navigate you to do His will. Mary and Joseph wanted freedom, no obstacles, and the option to settle in Bethlehem or Nazareth. But then a challenge forced their hand, directing them to make the choice God wanted them to make.

James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”

Today, ponder this: Can you pray to thank God for the difficulties and challenges you have right now? Depending on what these challenges are, this prayer may be easy or difficult. But know that God is good and that He is at work in your life to form you into the likeness of Jesus and save your soul for eternity.