13: And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14: When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and
departed into Egypt:
15: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16: Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
17: Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18: In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
19: But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20: Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
21: And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22: But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 
23: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Now that baby is by estimation just under two years old.  And already his life is threatened. The wise men had traveled nearly two years to find the child after seeing his star.  They had explained the prophecies to Herod and so Herod knew approximately what age the child should be.  In his jealousy and insecurity, Herod’s response to this new king was to order the slaughter of all the children in the region who were age two and younger.  But even with this extreme action, Herod did not manage to kill his target.  He could not kill Jesus because it was not yet time...God's purpose had not yet been fulfilled.  And God's purpose will be accomplished!

Sometimes in the working out of divine objectives, God uses the agency of humans, good and evil.  The slaughter of these innocent children is one of the hardest passages in the scripture to accept.  We cannot begin to understand why this had to happen.  We cannot understand God’s purposes in allowing it, but we can look for the hope that the story gives us. We can see how God used the evil that Herod devised to fulfill what had been spoken by the prophets.  We can also see how God used Joseph to defeat Herod’s wicked scheme to kill the Christ child.  God was able to use Joseph because Joseph had made himself available to God.  We don’t know much about Joseph, but we know he was honest and just.  He had already denied his natural reaction to put Mary away quietly when he learned she was expecting a child that was not his.  He trusted God and agreed to take her as his wife.  Now he was being asked to trust and obey God again.

All of us have something we can do for God. Some of us have been blessed with extraordinary gifts.  It may be a special skill we possess, or some expertise or knowledge in an area.  Things that seem as simple as being hospitable is a gift that God can use.  If you have ever desired to be chosen by God to do a work for God, Joseph's example in this story illustrates some principles you can follow to position yourself to be used by God.  I want to look at this passage from Joseph’s viewpoint and emphasize three of those principles.

The first is to LISTEN.  In our moment to moment movement in this life, we are surrounded and overwhelmed by so much noise. Noise is not only audible sound but all of the things that distract us from our purpose and from attention to God.  And as the world progresses and more and more technology is available, we are inundated with that much more noise.  Very often when we pray, we are so busy petitioning God, we don’t stop to listen to God’s response to us.  There is always something else demanding our time and attention.  It is difficult to make time to just be still and listen for God’s call.  To make yourself available to God, you have to stop your business and learn to listen for God’s voice.

The angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream. He had no prior experience as far as we know, with communicating with God.  But somehow he recognized that this was an authentic message and he heeded the instruction to take Mary as his wife.  Thus God’s “MO”, his modus operandi, was established with Joseph, so that the same method was used subsequently to instruct him to flee into Egypt and then to advise him when it was safe to return to Israel.

God does not speak to us all the same way.  That is why it is important for you to build your personal relationship with God.  When you block out the noise around you and seek regular communication with God, you will recognize the way or ways God speaks to you.  The Holy Spirit will bear witness to your spirit that what you hear is from the Lord.

Chapter 3 of First Samuel records the call of the boy Samuel to be a prophet of the Lord. When the Lord called Samuel, he was lying in bed in the quiet of the night ready to fall asleep. The Bible says in verse 7 that Samuel did not yet know the Lord or the word of the Lord, so he thought it was Eli calling him.  He heard the voice three times and each time he got up and went to Eli.  Eli realized the third time that it was God calling Samuel, so he instructed the boy to answer, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”.  That must be our response.  We must quiet ourselves to hear the voice of God, inviting God to speak because we are listening.

The second thing you have to do to be used by God is to LEAN on God.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding...”  Your reliance must be on God, acknowledging that God’s ways are not our ways.  Human beings cannot begin to understand or analyze the mind of God.  We cannot out-think God! What God tells us to do may be totally illogical and seemingly nonsensical, but God’s way is assuredly better than our way and will bring about greater results…the results desired by God.

Joseph and Mary could have thought it foolish, cowardly, completely inconvenient, or uncalled for to flee to Egypt with the Son of God.  Surely God can defend God’s son from Herod. Couldn’t God just kill Herod or just protect the child with angels?  Why run?  But instead of questioning God’s wisdom or motives, they obeyed.  And by obeying, Matthew states that they helped fulfill the prophecy.  We cannot know all that was accomplished by their obedience, but we do know that they proved themselves to be faithful and trusting of God.

By leaning on God, we also acknowledge that our dependence is on God.  We cannot accomplish anything of ourselves.  We need God’s guidance and God’s strength to enable us to do what may seem the simplest task.  When you obey God, you keep yourself in the will of God and under God’s divine protection.  It does not mean that everything in life will go smoothly, it means that God will be with you to see you through everything you experience.

It could not have made much sense to Gideon to decrease the number of men in his army from 32 thousand to three hundred to go up against hundreds of thousands of the Midianites, but he obeyed the Lord and the victory was won.

It doesn’t make much sense to stay in a city you know is going to be utterly destroyed when you have the chance to escape, but that is what Rahab did.   She was the prostitute who hid the spies Joshua sent to do reconnaissance at Jericho.  She believed that her life and that of her family would be spared as the spies had promised, even though everyone else in the city was being killed.  She did not know God for herself, but something about the men of God gave her the assurance she needed to stay put as she had been directed to do.

What God sometimes asks us to do just does not make sense, but if we can put aside our human rationale and lean on the Lord, our obedience will position us to accomplish a work for the Lord.

The last thing we have to do is LAUNCH into action.  When we have listened for God’s directions and we have decided to trust God by leaning solely and wholly on God, we have to act on what God has directed us to do. Sometimes people pray and pray and I guess they don’t like the answer they are getting because they keep praying about a thing.  But there is a time after praying when God has told you what you need to do that you need to go ahead and do it.  And you must respond quickly. That is not to say carelessly or unadvisedly, but in the sureness of God’s will.

As soon as Joseph got the word to flee to Egypt, he immediately arose, and took his family there. The word came to him in a dream that night and he got up and went.  He didn’t hesitate, he didn’t question God, he promptly obeyed.  And look at awesome God…one of the Magi had brought gold, so God had already made provision for them!

We need to remember that God has already made provision for us.  God will not direct you to do something that God has not prepared you for and prepared the way for you.  When you move in God’s will, by God’s orders, God clears a path.  The path doesn’t always LOOK clear to us.  I’m sure it didn’t look clear to Mary and Joseph having to flee like fugitives into the land of their people’s former bondage.  But you have to shut down your natural eye and ears and use your spiritual senses.  God will encompass you with the peace of knowing you are in God’s will and God is with you on the journey.

Simon Peter had been fishing all day with nothing to show for it.  But when Jesus said, “launch out into the deep” he obeyed and he caught more fish than he ever had.  He and the others with him were so astounded that they left all they had to follow Jesus.

Logic would dictate that you cannot feed five thousand folks with a few loaves and a couple of fish, but when Jesus said to pass what they had around to feed the people, the disciples obeyed and all were fed.

You cannot limit what God can and will do by what you can understand in human terms.  That is why this thing is called faith.  We are in the faith business.  We must walk by faith and not by sight.  When God says do it, don’t question the logic, the sense, or the reasoning, just do it!  If you really want to be used by God, learn how to listen, lean on the Lord, and be ready to launch into action.  Stop wading in the little bit of shallow faith, close to the shore, where you think you are more secure.  Trust the Lord. Don’t lob, don’t lag, don’t linger, don’t languish…LAUNCH out into the deep and let down your net for the catch of a lifetime!