Guarded and Graced

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.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” – Matthew 2:13-15

Yesterday, we began talking about what is true of Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and what is true of us when we choose to surrender our lives to the Lord. We specifically talked about how we are guided by the providence of God. If you missed yesterday’s devotion, I would encourage you to go back and read it.

Today, we’re going to continue our conversation on the truths from Joseph’s life and discuss two more things that were true of Him and are true of us when we exercise obedience and surrender.

First, we are guarded by the protection of God. When God provides a way of escape you take it. When God provides a place to hide you hide. Just like He told Joseph to go to Egypt to escape Herod, we need to be diligent in taking the escape routes that God provides for us when we’re in trouble. You can always know that if you are guided by the providence of God, you are guarded by the protection of God.

Second, we are graced by the provision of God. Where God guides, God provides. Where God leads. He meets the needs. He always pays for what He orders. Everything you think you work for, everything you think you earned, everything you think you accumulated, God gave it to you. You are what you are by the grace of God, and you have what you have by the grace of God. That is why you and I own nothing, but God owns everything.

Joseph understood this. He knew that he was only Jesus’ earthly father because God put him in that position. He was given this role in history by the grace of God, and he stewarded it with strength, faithfulness, and humility. May we all be encouraged to do the same with the roles God has placed us in.