According to what I’ve read and heard recently we are supposed to be able to see the Christmas Star this evening. I’m looking forward to it.
I think it’s so interesting that its called the Christmas Star.
The star that the wisemen followed from the East was in the sky more than just a few nights. Their travels took many months and the star was there to guide them all along the way. One of God’s early navigational tools.
We watched a movie a couple months back where a yacht was lost at sea. All the electronics and navigational devices had been damaged and rendered useless. This movie was based on true events and it showed how the woman on the boat used a sextant to chart her course by the placement of the stars.
God has given us so many evidences in nature to remind us of His faithfulness. Tonight we get to see another one. Amazing!
Following that star was an act of faith for those on this divine expedition. What would they have done if three months into their search the star disappeared? Would they have gone home? Would they have camped where they were waiting for it to reappeared? They even assumed that the star was leading them to Jerusalem because that was the capital city and surely the new king would be born there.
“They asked people, ‘Where is the child who has been born to be the king of the Jews? We saw the star that shows he was born. We saw it rise in the sky in the east and have come to worship him’…8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem. He said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me. Then I can go worship him too.”
9 After the wise men heard the king, they left. They saw the same star they had seen in the east, and they followed it. The star went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 10 They were very happy and excited to see the star.
11 The wise men came to the house where the child was with his mother Mary. They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened the boxes of gifts they had brought for him. They gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they went home to their own country a different way.” Matthew 2:2-12 ERV
How many times have those around us tried to convince us not to follow our hearts, not to go and do what we felt that God was leading us to do? Or perhaps you have had someone try to misdirect and alter what you knew to be right? Have you ever questioned God’s leading? Have you ever gotten started and then stopped, wondering if you had really been following God’s direction? I have had all these questions and hesitations.
We have been given a wonderful example in this account of the wisemen. Stay the course, don’t be detoured by others’ opinions.
Follow the star – it will lead us to the King!
Amen and amen! We need to follow God’s leading, and while we can listen and should listen to wise counsel, we ultimately need to be obedient to God’s leading.
Amen Melody!