God Protects His Promises

This morning as I was thinking about the birth of Jesus, the Lord pointed me to an unusual theme, His ability to protect His promise. I was reminded of the several times God sent Angels to provide directions and reveal the plans of the enemy to try and kill Jesus when He was yet a child. It is very clear that God is capable of stepping into our lives to guide and direct us.

I think sometimes we believe that God and the enemy are equal powers, or that God is generally either disinterested or disconnected from our lives. All of these are lies and as such we need to recognize them and cast them away from our thinking. The Bible is a great record of God's ability and willingness to step into our lives and reveal His love and faithfulness to us. I can think of numerous times in the old testament, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and on and on, when God touched their lives, gave them direction, protected them, and blessed them. The whole message of the New Testament is that God cared so much for us that He came to earth, took on Himself our punishment and established a new kingdom in the midst of this fallen World. That is exactly what we are celebrating at Christmas.

My meditation today is on God's ability to protect His promise, and at the same time not interfere with the fulfilment of His plan. I am amazed that He came to earth, took on the form of man fully, and became absolutely the most vulnerable form possible, that of a new born baby. Jesus purposely chose to become fully man, and in doing that put himself at the mercy of those around Him. When He was in danger, He could have taken back that which he gave up freely, His Godhood, but then he wouldn't have been able to fulfill the requirements of the law as a man. So God the Father chose to entrust His son, in this most vulnerable, state to people like you and me, Mary and Joseph, and guide them to safety with angelic visitors.

Here are a few verses that speak of those interactions:

Matthew 2:7-8, 12-14, 19-20 NIV
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. [8] He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” [12] And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

[13] When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” [14] So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,

[19] After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt [20] and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

I know that I tend to think that this would happen with Jesus because He was God's Son, and of course God would protect Him. What I felt the Lord say today, is that He does the same thing for all of us. We are all His children. He loves each of us uniquely and individually. The story of His protection over Jesus is meant to reveal to us the Father's heart for us all! He watches over us, and He watches over His promises, and He is capable of delivering both. Whether its through Angelic visitors, family members who watch over us and protect us, or the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, God is fully capable protecting His promise, of which we are part. God is not disconnected or ambivalent about our lives and situations, but sees our lives clearly and understands our needs. He is willing and able to break in and move in our behalf, but He also gives us the ability to choose our destiny. What a great love and faith in our nature, allowing us to choose Him.

So in summary, if God has spoken a promise to You, He is good for it. He hasn't forgotten; He hasn't become bored with You; He hasn't decided He likes some else better; He hasn't taken back the promise because of something bad you have done, or something that's happened to You. He loves You and will stand by You.

Amen Lord!