Friday, June 3, 2016

Morning Devotions: Matthew Chapter 2

Take a moment to read Matthew 2. Sometimes you see things in this passage that you may miss during the Christian celebration of Christmas.
You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts.   Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother's womb. Psalm 22:9-10

Psalm 22 is the prophecy of Y’shua-Jesus. David foretold amazing things about his “greater son,” his descendant from multiple generations after his own time. There are so many amazing prophecies about the life of the Messiah that some of the simple things are easy to miss.


“You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts”
The creator of the universe made himself dependent on faithful yet frail people. 

I am sure that single mother Mary, engaged to a righteous man, a man who was not the father of her child, would have had support in our day to abort the baby to save her relationship to Joseph. She determined to be faithful to the truth rather than her good name and plans without any assurance of what the outcome would be. 
  
In our day, no one would blame the magi for taking a cut of the treasure for personal use and security as they traveled to worship the new born king. Not only did they choose to give it all at great personal expense, but I believe that they were the last of the guardians of that great treasure. I believe that it was Daniel the prophet who, by faith, gave his entire inheritance to the coming king of his amazing visions. That treasure was entrusted to the honesty of believers for generations to come, until this final generation of guardians. The whole of Daniel’s estate was delivered to the King of kings because men chose to be faithful. 
  
Righteous Joseph, now steward of Daniel’s wealth, legal guardian of David's great seed, a child who was not his own (and of whom he could have been as vicious as Herod was), and a woman who was his wife in name but not in body (he kept her a virgin), left everything he knew, every family member and friend who could have helped him… who would have been more than willing to help him regain the throne of Israel with the wealth of Daniel; remember that Joseph was the legal heir to David’s throne, chose instead to make a run for Egypt to protect Mary’s child (the same Mary that he legally had a right to do an “honor killing” to). By faith he believed that this baby was the long awaited Messiah. Daniel’s wealth would help fund the trip to Alexandria, Egypt where Joseph did not even know if he could get work. Later, after Joseph and Mary had made a life for themselves in Egypt, they came back to Israel, by faith, to bring the King of kings home. 
  
At any point, any single person could have betrayed the creator of the universe. I believe that every one of them made a choice to be faithful in all things, from counting back change to how they lived and worshiped. Matthew 25:21, 23. 
  
This isn’t just a kewl story for Christmas. 
How you choose to live your life, moment by moment is of enormous value to the Creator. He once trusted his own earthly life to faithful people. When the Scripture tells us that he laid aside his glory, Philippians 2:7, He did not hang onto any special power to make people do things, he depended on their faithfulness. Can he depend on you? 
February 17, 2016 
Mrs. Hagerty 

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