Warning Joseph

Hey Reese,


On those shows you watch, like Scooby Doo, the kids are always running from some danger or trying to solve a mystery. Sometimes it seems S-C-A-R-Y!! but it always ends with the kids being saved and the mystery is solved. Did you know that in REAL life, baby Jesus was threatened and Joseph had to sneak away with him and Mary?

Mean old King Herod had learned from the wise men that a baby was born who would be the a king. King Herod was scared baby Jesus would grow up and take his place or his son’s place as king. King Herod was very, very angry when the wise men obeyed God and did not go back and tell him where the baby was. He was so furious when he knew the wise men had outsmarted him that he ordered for all the baby boys in Bethlehem and the nearby towns to be killed….dead! He was such a horrible man that he wanted little baby boys dead. He thought if he had all of them killed that the one that was predicted to be king by God’s prophets would be killed.

King Herod did not consider the power and love of God, however. Again, God sent an angel to warn Joseph in a dream and Joseph knew to obey!! While it was dark in the night, Joseph got up, and awakened Mary. “Mary, Mary!!!!” He must have whispered, “We have to go….hurry!!! God has sent an angel to warn me! We have to go!!”

They took baby Jesus and sneaked out of Bethlehem without the soldiers seeing them. How quickly they must have packed a few things, wrapped baby Jesus carefully, and hurried quietly out of Bethlehem. They rushed through the night and the next few days to reach another country where King Herod’s murdering soldiers could not come. Whee!! They had crossed to border and were safe in Egypt because Joseph and Mary obeyed God‘s warning! (Read more of the story in Matthew 2.)

Reese, even when you are scared, even terrified, God knows and cares. Talk to Him every day and tell him what you are doing and what scares you.

Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

 Maybe you will pray, “Dear God, thank you for being with me wherever I am, like you were with Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus. Please help me to feel safe.”