Scripture
“A cry was heard in Ramah –
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children
refusing to be comforted for they are dead.”
Observation
The wise men leave and, having been warned in a dream, they bypass Jerusalem. Joseph again has a dream in which an angel tells him to flee with the child to Egypt.
Herod orders all the boys under two years old who were born in or near Bethlehem to be killed.
After Herod dies, Joseph again has a dream that reassures him that it is time to return. The family settles in Nazareth in Galilee.
Application
When God is at work, we can be sure that satan is at work also, trying to undo God’s plans. Ironically, satan is often just dancing to the tune previously set by the Lord.
The Messiah is born, and satan seeks to destroy Him. He provokes the anger of Herod in an attempt to destroy God’s rescue plan. This plot, wicked as it is, was foreseen by Jeremiah hundreds of years prior.
Satan loves to think he is in control. He tries to convince God’s people to be afraid of him, to avoid big steps of faith, because of possible consequences. Yet, satan at every step is shown to be weaker than God.
The child of God has no reason to ever be afraid. “Greater is he that is in you than he than he that is in the world.”
Prayer
Father, the grief of those mothers and families whose little boys were killed by a paranoid king was great. Yet your grief for humanity lost in sin is even greater. Thank you for the knowledge that you have won the victory over the devil. Amen.
New Life Narrabri 