Matthew 2:1-23

Guidance. Direction. Hearing from God.

Men are often accused of being unwilling to stop and ask for directions. It’s true. However, there are reasons. Part of it is a desire to explore. “To boldly go where... blah, blah, blah.” Part of it is the fact that when you stop and ask you don’t always get good information. Most of it is simply pig headedness.

When it comes to life both men and women are not so good at taking directions. God desires to speak to us and we do indeed want to hear Him speak but afterward we still want the option of going our own way. Then, once we totally mess up, we want to complain about God. We aren’t really complaining that He wouldn’t speak, but rather that we wouldn’t listen or obey.

God speaks in so many ways. The magi were led initially by a star, a sign in the heavens. (This isn’t astrology. We can see God’s signs in the heavens, but they don’t control our lives. The magi still had the choice of following the star or not.) Later they were guided by scripture as the prophet Micah revealed where Messiah was to be born. Then they were guided by a dream from God. Later we see Joseph being guided by a dream from God. Through it all we see scripture being fulfilled.

God wants to speak to us in many ways. Will we listen? Will we obey?