That it might be fulfilled...

There are times, when following the Lord, things just don't add up.  They don't make sense and are very hard to follow.  Yet, I have found that if I'll keep my eyes on Him, He'll teach me what He's doing.  He's such a good God.  I had just such a learning experience this morning while reading Matthew 2.  I thought I knew what this chapter held for me, but He showed me so much more than I expected.  On the off chance that I'm not the only one who struggles with this, I thought I'd post my thoughts here this morning.  Enjoy!  :)

3 times in this chapter, the Lord changed directions, asking His people to follow him:

1) Sleeping comfortably in Bethlehem, Joseph is warned in a dream to uproot his family (immediately) and head for Egypt. Egypt? Egypt. Where he would be a foreigner in a strange place - new job, new friends (if they could find any in a land VERY different from their own), new home...where would they live? Would they be safe there? I'm sure the questions raced through his mind as he packed up his family in the middle of the night to evacuate to a place he didn't know. Time to trust.

2) Children are a blessing from the Lord, but shortly after Joseph, Mary and Jesus' departure from Bethlehem, God asks a few more to change direction. Herod was allowed (by God) to slaughter the children of Israel. Every male under the age of 2 - annihilated. As the mother of an 8 month old boy, I can't even begin to wrap my head around the agony these mothers faced. I'm confident that each of them had a future planned out for her son - play, growth, learning how to hunt with dad or become a strong fisherman, chose a beautiful woman for a wife and then...grandkids! What a happy future! And then, they are asked to move forward in a different direction...without their sons. Time to trust.

3) Headed back home...Joseph and Mary must have longed for the familiar. Facing toward Judea, the religious center of the Israeli world, God asks them to change direction...again. Galilee. The intellectuals. Where would they fit in there? They were simple - Joseph is a carpenter...Mary got pregnant before they were married...they were going to stick out like a sore thumb. Time to trust.

3 times, I see the Lord change direction suddenly, asking those who love Him and would follow Him to go in what seems to be the WRONG direction. In each instance, it was "that it might be fulfilled." God had a plan, written in prophesy for each tiny detail of Jesus' life and ministry. Those involved would eventually be brought face to face with a saving grace that would blow their minds, but first, each is asked to follow and trust, even when it looks grim.

I can hear you - "yeah, but that's because it was JESUS and there was prophesy..."

Did you know there is "prophesy" about you? Psalm 139 helps me remember how my story began.

Vs. 16 - Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

...in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me.

God will most certainly ask us to change direction from time to time. It may be that He calls me to a place or a task that just doesn't fit with the plan I THOUGHT He had laid out for me. My enemy may look for ways to keep me focused on the situation, feeling confused, discouraged, and abandoned by my God. But if I will remember that it is Him who leads the way before me, keep my eyes on Him (who, incidentally, doesn't change), and remember that every day of my life was written in His book...I can have peace that He has not left me, will not leave me, this is not random, but "that it might be fulfilled..."

Grace and peace!