Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy." (Matthew 2:7-10, NRSV)Did you notice that star? It had risen and guided the wise men (foreign priests) to Jerusalem. And when Herod told the wise men where the messiah was to be born by prophecy, the star still went ahead of them, even though they knew where they were going and it was a very small village, and it led them to the Christ child. They knew where they were headed, but they had guidance anyway.
I've thought about guidance a lot. Most of us experience a deep desire for guidance in the decision-making of our lives, particularly for those major life decisions such as marriage, career, and so on. But for those of us who are leaders, who know well our failings and our lack of wisdom to lead effectively from time to time, guidance is HUGE. We need guidance because our decisions not only affect our own lives and a small circle around us, but they can affect the lives of many, many people in significant ways. Those of us who are believers pray daily and fervently for guidance. I've longed for it. I've begged for it.
So when I read of guidance so thorough and persistent that it led the wise men even though they knew where they were going, I experience a moment of jealousy.
And then I realized: their guidance wasn't for everyday decision-making, or even for purposes of spouse or career selection. They were seeking guidance to find the One would would change the world, who would set things right, who would save them. We don't know exactly how they understood the significance of the child to whom they bowed down and gave their best gifts, but the point was this: Their guidance brought them surely and unrelentingly to God in human form, the savior.
And that is a comforting thought. The story of Jesus promises a confidence that, while guidance is not always evident in our daily lives, or even sometimes in the Big Decisions of our lives, there is one place that it is always sure: If we truly seek God, He will lead us to Him. That guidance may take us through swamps, across deserts, and fording rivers, but we will find Him. That guidance may draw us in from the fields where we're watching our sheep, but we will find Him. That guidance may bring us in as Gentiles who remark caustically about dogs getting the crumbs from the table, but we will find Him. [Note to Pedrito: I hear your "Amen! Preach it sister" from the back of the sanctuary.] That guidance may bring us to shore from the smelly work of filling our nets with fish, but we will find Him. That guidance may bring us from our prayers under the fig tree, but we will find Him. That guidance may compel us to take His cross on our backs and carry it for a while, but we will find Him!
And then, my friends, watch out for Delight to walk in your door. Because when they found Him, the wise men were "overwhelmed with joy!"
Gotta love those leggings. I'm not sure how much guidance they received for those, though I think, had they used a little more fabric, M.C. Hammer would have been envious!
ReplyDeleteI believe, a la Romans 12:1,2, that more guidance is available than we tend to receive, but our eyes are blurred and the sound is drowned by the noise of our own unsurrendered agendas and desires. And our loving Father keeps sending and delighting at whatever extent His children allow themselves to benefit from His omniscient input.
Consistent with your thesis, the magi received one more recorded shove in the right direction, one on which the continued existence of the man-child Savior depended.
Oh YEA! A-M-E-N!! Preach on sister!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the devotional text for the first day of all my classes was Isa. 49:15-16, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." And then I went on to preach for 10 minutes of how we can trust and depend on God for direction, for care, for simply being always there -- even when we can't see him, and cry out like Jesus on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!" But we can always say like Jesus, "Into your hand [the hand in which he has inscribed us],I commit my spirit."