January 31 and February 1
“Again Joseph was directed to a place of safety. He returned to Nazareth, his former home, and here for nearly thirty years Jesus dwelt, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Galilee was under the control of a son of Herod, but it had a much larger admixture of foreign inhabitants than Judea.
Thus there was less interest in matters relating especially to the Jews, and the claims of Jesus would be less likely to excite the jealousy of those in power.
Such was the Saviour's reception when He came to the earth. There seemed to be no place of rest or safety for the infant Redeemer. God could not trust His beloved Son with men, even while carrying forward His work for their salvation. He commissioned angels to attend Jesus and protect Him till He should accomplish His mission on earth, and die by the hands of those whom He came to save.”
Desire of Ages, page 66 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
The reading yesterday outlined the idea that as we are tested we are strengthened by God. I closed by letting you guess if God cared for Joseph throughout his difficult early years with Mary and his new-born son Jesus.
My suggestion that you guess was based on a few things, one, that is the way God has treated me. God has always cared for me. There is also the promise that we read in the New Testament, “Cast your cares on Him because He cares for you.”
There is another reason. I cheated. I read ahead. I’ve read the passage a few times. I know that God sent Jesus to a safe place, with a safe father and a safe mother in the care of many safe angels.
There are those who find Ellen White hard to read. There are times when she is. But then there are times when she comes up with something stirring. After we have been lulled into the picture of Jesus dwelling in the relatively safe area around Nazareth we read these poignant words,
“He (God) commissioned angels to attend Jesus and protect Him till He should accomplish His mission on earth, and die by the hands of those whom He came to save.”
God kept His Son so safe for 30 years so that we might be safe for ever! Now think about that.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
