Meditations

Matthew 26:1-28:20

Big Hairy Audacious Prayers

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Matthew 27:51

Going Deep: There is a high likelihood that you will pass by this curtain-tearing incident too quickly in light of all of the other amazing details of the crucifixion.  If you do, you will miss one of the most significant events in the history of God’s dealing with mankind.

A little background information on the curtain may help.  Kimberly Southwall writes,

“The temple had two important rooms in it. One was called the Holy Place, and the other was called the Most Holy Place. A curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. (Exodus 26:31-33.) The Most Holy Place represented the presence of God Himself. Because of that, the Most Holy Place was so special that God only allowed a priest to enter into it one time each year. No one else was ever allowed inside that room. The priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year to take the blood from a sacrificed animal to sprinkle inside to atone or try to make up for the peoples’ sins during that past year. For many years, this was the only way God’s people could hope to atone for their sins. But even this way wasn’t really good enough. That’s why God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die and atone for everyone’s sins, once and for all.

Keep in mind that this curtain was not like the ones in your home.  To begin with, only the High Priest could get near it; and then only once a year.  Not only that, it would have been impossibly tall to rip from the top to the bottom without a ladder.  Moreover, it was so thick that, ladder or not, no human hand could ever have torn it in two.

So what is going on here?  At the moment Jesus died to atone for our sins, it was as if God reached down from the unseen realm where he dwells, grabbed the curtain with both hands, ripping it with a vengeance, and thus opening up a new way for you and me into his very presence.

How awesome is that!  No longer do we need to come to God through an ineffective system of religious laws, procedural sacrifices, or by a high priest.  We can now boldly, confidently, and regularly come right into the very presence of God himself to obtain what we need.  That’s right, you can confidently bring those big, hairy, audacious prayers before God yourself.  You can go right to the top.

The writer of Hebrews describes it this way,

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:19-23)

The writer puts it similarly in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Now, aren’t you glad God ripped the curtain?  I sure am.  Next time you read Matthew 27, pause at verse 51 for a little while.

And while you’re at it, be a little bold before God in your prayers!

Just Saying… I love how Martin Luther describe the righteousness by which we access the Father’s presence:  “This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners, for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ’s, and Christ’s righteousness is not Christ’s, but ours.”

Matthew 23:1-25:46

Holy Risk Takers

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called
his own servants and delivered his goods to them.  To one he gave five
talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according
to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey
… But he who had received one went and dug in
the ground, and hid his lord’s money.”
Matthew 25:14-15,18

Go Deep: You probably know this Parable of the Talents well. Each of the servants was given talents (a sum of money) according to his ability, with the expectation that they would use endowment to produce something of benefit for the master.

The first two did—and were rewarded handsomely; the third didn’t—and was rebuked harshly. In fact, the talent was taken from the latter and given to the first servant, since he had proven to the master that he could increase exponentially whatever was placed in his care.

Now I have no way to prove this theologically, but I have a strong suspicion about this third servant. I don’t think he would have experienced the master’s rebuke had trying at least preceded his failure. I think it was because he didn’t try that the master’s anger was unleashed on him. He played it safe. He feared failure, so he didn’t risk anything. This one-talent servant simply took what he had been given, protected it, and turned it back over to the master in the same condition in which he had received it. And the master blew a gasket!

This gracious but just master had entrusted something special to the servant and the servant did nothing to expand it. Now here is a crucial part of this story: The master had given his servant the talent according to his ability (verse 15). In other words, the master knew, even though it was small, there was production potential in this servant. But the servant wasted it! He let a golden opportunity slip by, and paid a heavy price for it. He didn’t damage the talent; he didn’t lose it; he preserved it—thinking he was doing the master a favor. However, the master found that kind of fear-based, lazy-hearted stewardship odious.

You, too, have been given a talent—probably more: talents in the literal sense of the word, and talents in the sense of kingdom potential and kingdom opportunity. You have been given them according to your ability—not anyone else’s. You won’t be judged against either another’s potential or their production. Your only benchmark is your own faithfulness. As Charles Robinson pointed out, “The reward of being ‘faithful over a few things’ is just the same as being ‘faithful over many things’; for the emphasis falls upon the same word; it is the ‘faithful’ who will enter ‘into the joy of their Lord.’”

It matters not if you have five, three or one talent potential.  What matters is what you do with what you have been given.  You have been given your talents with the expectation that you will leverage your abilities to increase those talents and enlarge the kingdom for the real Master—for Jesus’ sake.

The whole point of the story is this: Don’t waste your opportunities. Don’t let the possibility of failure paralyze you; don’t let inaction define you. If there is any regret at the end of your faith journey, may that be that you tried and failed, not that you didn’t try.

Risk a little. Even if you fall flat on your face, the fact that your heart was pure and your motive was to increase your Master’s kingdom will bring you to the joyful place of hearing him say to you on that glorious day,

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over
a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.
Enter into the joy of your lord.”
Matthew 25:23)

Just Saying… John Chrysostom, a church father and bishop of Constantinople in the fourth century, said, “Do you seek any further reward beyond that of having pleased God? In truth, you know not how great a good it is to please Him.”

Matthew 20:1-22:46

The All-Inclusive, Exclusive God

“Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:14

Go Deep: I am always amazed at people’s reaction to the tragic and untimely death of a pop culture icon like Michael Jackson, or a venerable political figure like Ted Kennedy.  Adoring fans, devotees and sycophants assume that no matter what kind of life the famous led and what kind of dysfunctional behavior might have contributed to their death, they get a free and easy pass to heaven.

How often have you heard a heartbroken fan trying to find some comfort in their favorite celebrity’s death say something like this: “I’ll sure miss ’so and so’, but I know they’re in a much better place. I’ll bet they’re smiling down on us right now.”

Of course, death is tragic, whether it is a celebrity or not. And of course, God loves famous people just as he loves not so famous people. God love all people so much that he has made room for everyone in his eternal kingdom. But no one gets a free and easy pass to heaven—unless, that is, they go through Jesus. He is the only free and easy way to the Father. (John 14:6)

“Many are called, but few are chosen.” Those sobering words appear at the very end of the Parable of the Banquet, and if you read that entire parable (Matthew 22:1-14), you find that Jesus is not painting the picture of a narrow, exclusive God. Quite the opposite—he invites pretty much everybody to the party. The problem is, most reject the invitation. They want to come to it when they are good and ready. They don’t want to change into proper banquet attire. In the words of that famous theologian Frank Sinatra, the vast majority of people want to do it “my way.” But it doesn’t work that way. Only a few get chosen, not because of the exclusivity of God, but because of the resistance of those who demand entrance into the banquet on their terms.

Let’s be very clear about this: God is not willing that any should perish; He desires that all should come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9) But we don’t get to tell God how we are going to get into his heaven. We can only get there on his terms.

And his terms are very clear: Complete and total surrender to Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord. We must receive him as the only one who can save us from our sins, and we must crown him as the Lord and Ruler of our lives—which means every dimension of our being. It is on those terms that we are given the free and easy pass to heaven.

Many get invited, but only the few who come on God’s terms will get in on the party that will never end.

Just Saying… The great Bible commentary Matthew Henry wrote, “None shall be saved by Christ but those only who work out their own salvation while God is working in them by His truth and His Holy Spirit. We cannot do without God; and God will not do without us.”

Matthew 17:1-19:30

The Downside of a Spiritual High

“Now as they came down from the mountain,
Jesus commanded them …”
(Matthew 17:9)

Go Deep: We love mountaintop experiences; “spiritual highs” — experiences so wonderful that we never want to lose the good feeling of their warm afterglow.  Like the good feelings we had at the moment of salvation, or an ecstatic encounter with the Holy Spirit, or when we cried our eyes out at the altar during summer youth camp, or at a revival meeting when God’s presence seemed so thick you could slice it.

The problem with those kinds of experiences is that we tend to fixate on them, and then rate the rest of our Christian walk against them.  Unfortunately, nothing can quite live up to the warm fuzzies of a mountaintop high.

We love to stay on the mountaintop with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, don’t we?  That feels so good, and going back down to the valley where life is lived is so…well, so mundane.  But following Jesus always means we have to “come down from the mountain to do as he commands.”  We have to leave the sanctuary, the worship service, the warm incubator of our small group Bible study and get back into the game of extending the Kingdom to those who don’t know Jesus yet.

Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a high mountain where he was transfigured—literally, morphed—right before their eyes.  And not only that, two of Israel’s greatest prophets appeared before them—Moses and Elijah. Peter, predictably, suggested what the other two disciples were thinking:  “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, let us make here three [shelters]: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Matthew 17:4)

Who wouldn’t want to stay there!  I would.  I would want to can that spiritual experience and pull it back out of the can everyone once in a while—okay, a lot—to enjoy the moment of that “spiritual high” all over again.

Here’s the deal: God never intends for us to fixate on “spiritual highs”; they are meant for fuel to empower us for some spiritual assignment.  Jesus didn’t have this encounter with Moses and Elijah just so he could feel special.  Luke 9:31 says that these two Old Testament prophets came to encourage him about his upcoming departure—literally, in the original text, his “exodus.”  Jesus was about to face the greatest assignment of all—the cross.  This mountaintop experience was meant as fuel for his impending death for the sins of the world.

Now don’t misunderstand, I am not down on “spiritual highs.”  They are wonderful, and necessary.  Just don’t fixate on them!  Resist the urge to erect a shelter just so you can bask in their warm afterglow.  Don’t rate the rest of your Christian experience against them.  Simply see them for what they are:  fuel for the assignment ahead.

Then get off the mountain and back in the game.  And while you’re at it, get out there and give ‘em some heaven!

Just Saying… Charles Spurgeon gave a good dose of spiritual reality to all of us mountaintop types:  “Serve God by doing common actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling only leaves you cracks and crevices of time, fill them up with holy service.”

Matthew 14:1-16:28

Self Therapy of the Divine Kind

When Jesus heard [of John’s death], He departed from there by boat to a deserted place
by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from
the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and he
was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:13-14

Go Deep: Karl Menninger, founder of the famed psychiatric clinic in Topeka, Kansas that bears his name, was once asked, “What would you do if you thought you were going crazy?”  Without even having to think about it, he said, “I’d go out and find someone less fortunate to serve.”

There is just something so self-healing about serving somebody else—especially if they are worse off than you. When you are going through your own hardship, whatever that may be—sickness, loss, disappointment, depression—God’s therapy is to find those who cannot help themselves, somebody who cannot pay back your kindness, and minister God’s love to them.

Don’t get me wrong—I am not suggesting denial or avoidance as it relates to your own hurt. Not at all! But to love, serve, and bless the less fortunate is to initiate a spiritual law that we find in Acts 20:35, “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Jesus said it another way in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

In other words, when you are the conduit of God’s love and grace, and when heaven’s generosity is being poured through you to those in need, on the way through you, that same flood of love, grace and generosity will leave the Divine touch in your own life.

Jesus is practicing his own preaching here in Matthew 14. King Herod had just beheaded Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. When Jesus heard the news, he was deeply affected with unbearable sorrow over the loss of a loved one. And he did what most of us would do: He got away from the crowd for some time alone to pour out his grief before God.

But Jesus didn’t stay there long. He didn’t make the retreat into isolation his permanent address; he didn’t accept the paralysis of grief; he didn’t allow loss to define him. Rather, as other people who were hurting for reasons different than his own found him, he allowed compassion to flow, and out of that, he began to minister to their needs.

Jesus was setting a pattern for us, don’t you think? Not to minimize the pain that we experience from loss, but to turn it into a productive force that initiates God’s healing therapy in our own lives as we become the conduit of Divine love and grace to hurting people.

Perhaps you are licking your wounds today from the loss of something dear and near to your heart—maybe even the death of a loved one. If that is the case, try doing what Jesus did. See the needs of other hurting people around you and love them.

You probably won’t feel like doing it, but do it anyway. It won’t take away your own pain, but it will unleash God’s healing therapy for you. And at the end of the day, you will find that your journey through grief will be a lot healthier and a whole lot more productive.

One More Thing… Sir Thomas Browne put it well: “By compassion we make others’ misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also.”

Matthew 11:1-13:58

When God Doesn’t Live Up To Billing

“Are you the one who was to come, or should
we expect someone else?”
Matthew 11:3

Go Deep: Let’s be honest—we’ve all been deeply disappointed with God. Sometimes He doesn’t live up to our expectations. A prayer doesn’t get answered the way we want, when we want: a healing doesn’t occur, a job is lost, a relationship goes sour, a marriage isn’t saved, a loved one refuses salvation, a child dies…

That’s when faith really gets tested. It is easy to believe in the good times—when things are going great, prayers are getting answered, and God is obviously on our team. But just cut off the flow of blessing, squeeze our faith a little, push us out of our comfort zone—then take our spiritual temperature and see if we’re still aflame with faith.

John the Baptist was there. He had obeyed the call of God early in his life as the forerunner of the Messiah. He had arranged his whole world around announcing Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. He had lived an austere life, preached his heart out, courageously confronted the religious establishment, boldly challenged sinful hearts, and called Israel to national repentance, all to prepare the way for Jesus. He expected his faithfulness to God and obedience to the call would usher in the Kingdom of God when Jesus showed up and launched his messianic ministry.

But now he was in jail. He was in a pretty serious situation that in a few days would lead to his beheading. And Jesus was out there preaching to small crowds, doing a few miracles here and there, and not taking this Messiah thing very seriously. John was disappointed, to say the least.

Did you notice how Jesus handled John’s disappointment and doubt? Not with a brow beating, not with a rebuke, not with anger, Jesus simply reaffirmed John and spoke about his value in God’s eyes. Jesus understood where John was coming from.

Jesus also understood that God’s timing was way different than John’s. John wanted the Kingdom now, and when it didn’t happened, he questioned. So Jesus redirected John’s faith—he encouraged him to take his eyes off circumstances and put them back where they belonged: On the undeniable evidence of God’s activity; on the unshakable hope of God’s Kingdom; on the unbreakable promise of God’s Word; on the irrefutable goodness of God’s character. And then to trust!

We’ve all had similar doubts, questions, disappointment and perhaps even anger with God when he didn’t live up to billing. Maybe that’s where you are today. That’s okay—God is big enough to handle your upset—provided you do as John did and be honest about it. God won’t give you a beat down if you’ll come to him with a humble and honest heart. He’ll simply reaffirm your inestimable value and remind you of his everlasting love—and then he’ll invite you to trust.

And at the end of the day, you’ll never be disappointed when you trust God. Take to heart what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:3-5,

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Just Saying…“Bless your uneasiness as a sign that there is still life in you.”  That’s from Dag Hammarskjöld, the Swedish-born Secretary-General of the United Nations, whom President Kennedy called “the greatest statesman of our century.” Not only sign of life, your uneasiness may in fact be the pre-evidence that God is doing a great work in you.  Missionary Frank Laubach wrote, “There is a deep peace that grows out of illness and loneliness and a sense of failure. God cannot get close when everything is delightful. He seems to need these darker hours, these empty-hearted hours, to mean the most to people.”

Matthew 8:1-10:42

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

“For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise
and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power
on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise,
take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he
arose and departed to his house.
(Matthew 9:6-8)

Go Deep: I’ve always loved that line: “Which is easier?”  If I had been the one in this situation instead of Jesus, I would likely have said, “Which is harder?”  But Jesus was God, so he didn’t sweat the small stuff—and to him, it was all small stuff.

That’s why he could forgive sins just as easily as he could heal a paralytic.  That’s why he could cure those with leprosy, raise a little girl from death, heal a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, open blind eyes, equip a mute man with speech, drive demons from those in the devil’s bondage and even calm a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee.  It was all small stuff to Jesus because he was God.

So what about your life?  What are you facing? What is your storm, your impossibility, your bondage—a physical challenge, a financial situation, a problem at work, guilt over a past sin, a broken marriage?  What is it that is causing paralysis in your life, keeping you from walking into the abundance that Jesus promised to give? (John 10:10)  Whatever it is, no matter how big of a deal it seems to you, it’s all small stuff to Jesus, because he is God after all.

As you face those things today that have paralyzed you with fear, anxiety, guilt, hurt, anger or inaction, take to heart the words of the prophet Jeremiah,

O Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth
by your great power.  Nothing is too difficult for you.
(Jeremiah 32:17)

So don’t sweat the small stuff—because it is all small stuff to Jesus.

Just Saying… The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, England’s best-known pulpiteer for most of the second half of the nineteenth century said, “When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord.” Put your hope in the Lord, because that hope will not be disappointed. (Romans 5:5)

Matthew 5:1-7:29

What Moves God’s Heart

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs
Matthew 5:3 (NLT)

Go Deep: There is no doubt that God has a special place in his heart for the poor.  You can’t read too far in either the Old or New Testaments before you are convinced of that.  But it is not poverty itself that impresses God—although he is always moved with compassion by people’s desperate condition—it is the utter dependence and complete openness of those who are without any other means of help that touches his heart.  It is these who are truly blessed.

How are they blessed?  They know they need God!  That is simply and truly the best blessing of all. And when those who know they need God find him, they find everything.  Furthermore, once they come to know God, they understand that without him they have absolutely nothing—pain, poverty, helplessness and hopelessness.

The poor are quite unlike the rest of us in that sense.  When we find God, we tend to place him alongside everything else we have: our wealth, our conveniences, our abilities, our ingenuity, our relationships.  We are not desperately dependent on God like the poor.  When the poor get sick, they pray first, then they pray desperately.  When we get sick, we go to the medicine cabinet for aspirin or to the phone to call the doctor, and if we happen to think about it, then we ask God.  Or if the poor are hungry, they pray for provision.  We go to the fridge and get a snack.  It’s a matter of desperate dependence.  They have it; we don’t.

My observation is that they who have so little reason for joy have so much more joy than we who have so much but have so little joy. I remember thinking that very thing as I was standing in an African orphanage for boys, watching the smiling faces of about thirty parentless ten-year-olds singing songs that expressed their hope in God and their longing for heaven.  They were beaming from a source of Light like I didn’t know—not really.  And I was convicted.

It’s a matter of desperate dependence.

Father God, afflict my heart with holy desperation!  I’d rather have that than any earthly treasure that gets in the way of knowing and needing you.

Just Saying… The brilliant thinker C.S. Lewis once said, “A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world—and might be even more difficult to save.”  May we find discontent with our own contentment if it is not borne by our satisfaction in God alone!

Matthew 3:1-4:25

Temptation

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days
and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now
when the tempter came to Him, he said,
“If You are the Son of God…”
Matthew 4:1-3

Go Deep: Isn’t it interesting—profound, really—that Satan knew who Jesus was, that he was God the Son, yet tempted him anyway.

Satan once resided as Lucifer, chief of all then angels, in the presence of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus became the incarnate Son of God, Satan knew perfectly well of his divine nature. Rather than backing off, however, Satan unleashed a torrent of enticements designed to derail the plan of God and get Jesus off his game.  And if the very Son of God would have to endure an onslaught of Satanic temptations, so will you.

It is also of interest that Satan didn’t tempt Jesus with obvious evil.  Three times he attempted to entice Jesus to sin with subtle, sane, and spiritual sounding goodies. The devil is the master of subtlety. He didn’t come to Jesus dressed in a red suit and pointed tail, pitchfork in hand, luring Jesus to commit murder or to steal a bag full of money.  No, this temptation was to gain what seemed good by sacrificing what was best.

It is highly likely that the temptations you will face today will be subtle as well.  Satan’s stock-in-trade is deception, which is what makes temptation so effective.  Jesus called him “the father of lies”, and he’s gotten pretty good at it over the millennia.  So in particular, watch out for the enticements that will be just slightly off center from God’s will.  Don’t accept good at the expense of God’s best.

In one sense, the temptations that will hit you today will be perfectly sane.  Jesus had fasted for forty days and was at the limit of what a human body could endure.  He was hungry, and Satan simply suggested that Jesus use his God-prerogatives to satisfy a physical necessity.

Jesus was called to be the Messiah of the Jews.  What better way to jumpstart his ministry than by hang-gliding from the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem—without a hang-glider.  What a great way to show off his God-powers and impress the people he was called to lead.

Ultimately, Jesus was called to be the Lord and Savior of the world.  Why not fast-track that plan by allowing Satan to hand deliver all the nations of the world to him in an instant.  No fuss, no muss.

The problem was, each of these temptations called for Jesus to depend on himself to get his needs met rather than trusting in God’s provision, timing and plan.  That is perhaps the most foundational and most common sin of all—to trust in anything or anyone other than God to get your needs and wants met.

It is likely that you will be hit with temptation in the same way today.  It will be subtle.  It will seem sane.  And probably, it will sound pretty spiritual as well—remember, each temptation Satan dangled before Jesus was prefaced with Scripture.

So be on guard today—sin is crouching at your door.  But it is not inevitable that you will succumb to it.  Jesus didn’t—which means that you don’t have to either.  Jesus knew the Word and will of God better than Satan, and so do you.  That’s one of the blessings of reading and praying the Scripture each day, as you are doing.

Likewise, since Jesus overcame his battle with temptation, he stands at the ready to help you in your battle.  So just ask him for his help—he is more than willing to come alongside you.  Hebrews 2:17-18 teaches us,

“For this reason Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

So when sin comes knocking at your door today, just send Jesus to answer it.

Just Saying… John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, said “Every temptation is an opportunity of our getting nearer to God.” Temptation usually has the effect of causing distance between you and God.  Why not buck your temptation and use it to draw close instead.

Matthew 1:1-2:23

History Is Really His Story

“For thus it is written in the prophets…”
Matthew 2:5, 15, 18, 23

Go Deep: The birth and life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world, was not the product of random events. It was the direct result of prophetic fulfillment. Thus the phrase linking Christ’s life to Old Testament prophecy is repeated four times here in this second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.

Those details of Jesus’ life had been laid out in the mind of God from eternity past and had been written down in the inspired utterances of the prophets of old hundreds of years before Christ was born. The fulfillment of scores of prophecies in minute detail of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus leaves us with a pretty amazing track record of prophetic accuracy…leaving no doubt that those detailing his second coming will most certainly be fulfilled, too.

There is nothing random about God; nothing is left up to chance. The God of the Bible is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and is ruling over the details of history to bring about his perfect plan. What may seem like happenstance or coincidence, God has foreordained, caused, or permitted in his perfect will. Coincidence is simply a sovereign act of God for which he chooses to remain unseen; a miracle for which he prefers anonymity.

God is in control of all things, and that includes your life. David wrote in Psalm 139:16,

“You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.”

God’s Word invites you to live with amazing confidence today, knowing that he is in control of all things, including even the smallest details of your life. Therefore you can say, “all things will work together for my good and his glory.”

Just Saying… John Newton, once a slave-trading profligate who was marvelously converted, was profoundly spot-on when he wrote, “We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”