Daily Devotionals

Underdog Week 1 Saturday

After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Get up, take the child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." Matthew 2:19-20

Yesterday we read about the wise men's desire to worship Jesus and Herod's desire to make his own name great. Herod saw Jesus as a threat to his power and therefore made a plan to stop Jesus. He told the wise men to find Jesus so that he, too, could worship Him. What he really wanted was to find Jesus and kill Him. He did not know that God's plan cannot be thwarted. Matthew 2:12 tells us that the wise men did not go back to Herod because they were warned in a dream not to return to him. Instead, they went to their homes by another route. God was protecting Jesus and His plan to rescue humanity through Jesus. 

This story is not over yet. When Herod learned that the wise men had gone home a different way, he was livid. The unthinkable happened next. Herod ordered all of the baby boys who were two-years-old and younger to be killed in and around Bethlehem, Jesus' birthplace. Can you imagine the agony among the people of Bethlehem during this time? Sometimes Christmas is filled with pain. A divorce happens, and suddenly nothing about Christmas is the same. Sickness happens. A loved one dies. It is okay and good to grieve. Know this, though; your grief is not in vain. God fights for and protects His people. He is in control. Matthew 2:13 tells us that an angel warned Joseph to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus. Then, when King Herod had died, and Jesus' life was no longer threatened, an angel came to Jesus' father in a dream and told him it was safe to go back (verses 19-20). After this, they went back to Nazareth. Nothing was going to stop God's plan to save me and you, not even the most powerful king at the time. 

God has and always will fight for you and protect you, even when circumstances seem otherwise. He planned to send Jesus from the very beginning so that we would never have to live lives apart from Him. Take heart in this truth today. 

Moving Toward Action

You have a God who fights for you and protects you. He protected Mary and Joseph and kept the king from killing Jesus before He had the opportunity to rescue each one of us from our sins. He is fighting for you today. What area of your life do you need God to fight for you? Whatever area that is, ask God to fight for and protect you. Thank Him for being a God who takes care of you.

Going Deeper

Read Matthew 2:9-19 (NLT)

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

“A cry was heard in Ramah—
    weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
    refusing to be comforted,
    for they are dead.”

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.