Daily Devotions

During the season of Lent our devotions have been written by members of Faith Lutheran Church. Today’s writer is Daniel Castillo.

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” Matthew 2:13-18

Often I’ve heard people say, “Hey, I had this crazy dream last night, want to hear it?” And honestly it’s tough to listen let alone trust in a dream. But Joseph trusts to the point that he leaves “by night”.

There’s an urgency to go, when I’d want to wait pray and figure out how to even get to Egypt. Here God speaks and Joseph acts quickly.

It’s also hard to avoid noticing that the parents of the children killed by Herod do not receive any message. No dreams or angels but this is how our world works. But it does make you wonder why?

Why isn’t everyone saved when people like Herod kill babies or those that shoot up schools kill children or when people like Hitler kill Jews? We do not understand it and I doubt I ever will.

I do know that when it comes to stuff like Herod killing babies we either find peace or endlessly search for why. God does not simply fix these problems in our world. Instead, God comforts those who suffer.

Let us pray: God, remind us to seek peace. Remind us that your will comes in dreams and messengers. Help us to trust you like Joseph, to go “by night” or whatever you may call us into. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This entry was posted on February 16, 2016 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.