Daily Scripture: Matthew 2:13 After they had gone, an angel of Adonai appeared to Yosef in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave. For Herod is going to look for the child in order to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until Herod died. This happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet,
“Out of Egypt I called my son.”[Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1]
19 After Herod’s death, an angel of Adonai appeared in a dream to Yosef in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to Eretz-Yisra’el, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Eretz-Yisra’el.
Reflection Questions:Israel’s history was intertwined with Egypt’s at many points, starting with the patriarchs Jacob and Joseph finding food and shelter there (cf. Genesis 37:23-28, 46:1-7). After Egypt made Jacob’s descendants slaves, God’s power leading them out of Egypt became Israel’s defining Passover story (cf. Exodus 12:40-42). Matthew, whose gospel showed that Jesus embodied Israel’s hopes and destiny, showed that Jesus’ life history echoed Israel’s.
- God usually works through people who are willing, like Jesus' earthly father Joseph, to move as God leads them. You’re God’s son or daughter. Has God ever called you “out of Egypt” in some part of your life? In what ways, if any, is God calling you “out of” certain lifestyle choices or ways of thinking that hold you back from the freedom God offers you in Christ?
- From his birth, some people loved and worshiped Jesus, while others tried to kill him. Joseph and Mary protected their infant son by going to Egypt, at God’s direction, and also left Egypt when God directed. On our life's journey, we come to many decision points, and may face dangers we don’t fully perceive. In what ways has God guided and protected you?
Lord God, keep my heart open to your leading and direction in my life. Give me the courage and the wisdom to follow you even if your calling feels challenging or difficult. Amen.
---------------------Insights from Donna Karlen
Donna Karlen serves in Communications at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.Joseph hears from an angel of the Lord, Moses gets a burning bush – even Samuel has Eli to tell him that it was God who was calling out to him in the night! I wish I had an angel or an Eli serving as God’s voice tomy ears.
Like many, I struggle when it comes to hearing God’s voice in my life and discerning it from other voices (most of them my own) pulling me in one way or another. Some people say that you know it’s God when you feel inner peace with whatever decision you make. But quite frankly, when I really need – no, yearn – to hear God’s voice guiding me is during times that are anything but peaceful …
We should be able to download a “God’s Voice” app. It needs to be a free app, of course, and there would be no 10-page terms of agreement that we’d have to accept. Our list of contacts and photos wouldn’t have to be accessed, and we can just pull up the app whenever we need God to give us a burning bush message on what we should do.
Sorry – just recently upgraded my phone from what my children derisively called my iPhone negative 1 (no S), so I’ve been adding a lot of apps over the weekend. But it really would be cool: the iAM App!
My struggles with hearing God’s voice aside – and note that every Google search on the topic pretty much said to start with daily reading of the Bible as being the best way to hear God speak. (Hmmm – God’s word for his children = God speaking to his children. Also note that there actually are Bible reading apps, plus Resurrection’s GPS Guide, to help us dive daily into scripture.)
So let’s go back to pre-iPhone times and look at what happened after Joseph heard from the Lord’s angel, as stated in today’s GPS scripture:
Joseph got up… and he did what God told him to do.
And when Samuel heard the Lord calling to him, as stated in the Old Testament:
Samuel got up… And he responded, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
And when Moses picked himself up off the sacred ground after hearing what God called him to do:
Moses said, “Please, my Lord, just send someone else.” (Cue lifting needle and scratching record sound effect.)
Maybe like Moses, my reluctance to actually do what God might be calling me to do is the barrier blocking his voice. I’ve always loved change – as long as the change is my idea!
I don’t have the answers for how we can hear God’s voice, or how we can know if when we do hear something that what we’re hearing is truly God’s voice. I do know the closest I’ve come to hearing from the God I love with all my heart is when I pray. And speaking of heart, I end with this from Ephesians 1:17-18:
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
Speak, Lord, the eyes – and ears – of my heart are listening.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Like many, I struggle when it comes to hearing God’s voice in my life and discerning it from other voices (most of them my own) pulling me in one way or another. Some people say that you know it’s God when you feel inner peace with whatever decision you make. But quite frankly, when I really need – no, yearn – to hear God’s voice guiding me is during times that are anything but peaceful …
We should be able to download a “God’s Voice” app. It needs to be a free app, of course, and there would be no 10-page terms of agreement that we’d have to accept. Our list of contacts and photos wouldn’t have to be accessed, and we can just pull up the app whenever we need God to give us a burning bush message on what we should do.
Sorry – just recently upgraded my phone from what my children derisively called my iPhone negative 1 (no S), so I’ve been adding a lot of apps over the weekend. But it really would be cool: the iAM App!
My struggles with hearing God’s voice aside – and note that every Google search on the topic pretty much said to start with daily reading of the Bible as being the best way to hear God speak. (Hmmm – God’s word for his children = God speaking to his children. Also note that there actually are Bible reading apps, plus Resurrection’s GPS Guide, to help us dive daily into scripture.)
So let’s go back to pre-iPhone times and look at what happened after Joseph heard from the Lord’s angel, as stated in today’s GPS scripture:
Joseph got up… and he did what God told him to do.
And when Samuel heard the Lord calling to him, as stated in the Old Testament:
Samuel got up… And he responded, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
And when Moses picked himself up off the sacred ground after hearing what God called him to do:
Moses said, “Please, my Lord, just send someone else.” (Cue lifting needle and scratching record sound effect.)
Maybe like Moses, my reluctance to actually do what God might be calling me to do is the barrier blocking his voice. I’ve always loved change – as long as the change is my idea!
I don’t have the answers for how we can hear God’s voice, or how we can know if when we do hear something that what we’re hearing is truly God’s voice. I do know the closest I’ve come to hearing from the God I love with all my heart is when I pray. And speaking of heart, I end with this from Ephesians 1:17-18:
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
Speak, Lord, the eyes – and ears – of my heart are listening.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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