Day 7

Day Seven

Matthew 2:7-12 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young child, and when you have found Him, bring word back to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the East, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come in to the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
In this section of scripture we see a very well defined picture of God's ability and desire to have His will and His will alone be done for His people. I strongly believe that while this portion of the word is referring to the protection of Jesus, our God will and has done the same for each and every one of us, His children as well. Here you have the enemy (in the form of Herod) plotting to stop the will of God by killing his rival the rightful heir to the throne. The enemy has formed a plan to locate this threat in the form of a child, he even uses the unsuspecting and innocent through manipulation to assist him by lying and deceiving them. Then he waits and watches while his best-laid plans are carried out all the while thinking he has been successful. However on the other side we have the Lord of hosts who has his own plan, and is well aware of His enemy's trickery and lies, hence He uses it for His good. God in His infinite wisdom leads the wise men to Jesus, has them bless His family with great gifts and earthly provision, and makes them aware of the trickery of Herod. You see first of all the scriptures must be fulfilled speaking of this event so God saw that they were, all the while not forgetting about the earthly and physical needs of this family. The Lord knew that soon this family would need to leave their land, He knew that in a foreign land Joseph as a stranger could have trouble providing for his family, trips are and even then were expensive this was not a wealthy family, there were deposits and rents to be paid, food to be purchased, and so on, again all things the Lord cared about. Hence He brought forth wise men bearing valuable gifts ones that could be used if needed to more than provide for this family while in exile. All of these things this family was not yet aware of, all they knew was that some Wise men dropped by and gave them gifts hoping to see and welcome the Messiah. The point here for us is the need to realize that God is in control, that He by His will does not allow the scheming of the enemy to affect in any way His plans for His people. And if you're worried about trusting Him or believing that He has great things in store for you, just look at His word. There is never a case (even Job) where the end result for those who were faithfully following Him was not in the very best of their interest. God always has been and always will be faithful even when it seems like the enemy has robbed us of every blessing we must remember this very fact, He our Lord will have the last word and His will, will be done in all our lives!
Daily Prayer: Father I pray that we would have the faith to believe, the strength to stand, and the ears to hear when faced with life's trials, in Jesus name I pray, amen.
"God's will is to help us not harm us, and all things work toward His will"
Gene Burroughs Servant