One more day in the year 2016… what happened this year in your life?  Changes, changes happened.  Were they good changes or bad?  Perhaps, from your perspective they were really good changes or, on the other hand, they were negative and disheartening changes.

Joseph, Mary and the Child Jesus experienced changes in their lives, under the direction of the Lord God.

Changes under God’s direction, even if they appear bad to you, are all good.  Confidence in God and His leading is important to the followers of Christ. The Lord tells us in the Old Testament and the New Testament to “live by faith” and not by sight.

An angel had given the message to Joseph to leave Bethlehem taking Mary and the Child Jesus to Egypt.   King Herod the Great would try to kill Jesus.  Joseph immediately obeyed.
(Matthew 2:13-15 fulfilling Messianic prophecy)

When King Herod died, an angel again told Joseph to leave; this time to leave Egypt and go back to Israel.

Joseph again obeyed and when they arrived in Israel, he heard one of Herod’s wicked sons sat on the throne in Jerusalem.  Uh-oh, not a good idea to go back to Bethlehem.  Again an angel warned Joseph in a dream.  Joseph took his family and went to live in Nazareth, a town well north of Jerusalem.
(Matthew 2:21-23 fulfilling another Messianic prophecy) 

Joseph, Mary and the Child Jesus experienced many changes in their circumstances.  They were obedient to God’s leading.  Did they doubt God?  They are examples of living by faith in God.

Remember:
our faith is in the living God ~                                                                       not in ourselves or in our circumstances.

~ Take it to heart ~

No matter the changes of 2016, good or bad –
I am to follow Christ in 2017!

Jesus is unchangeable in my changing circumstances.

(NASB) James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”