Patience is not one of my virtues so when I read and think about the story of the wise men I am always amazed. You can read about their story in Matthew 2 and I caught some things that have not jumped out at me before.
In Matthew we are introduced to Herod who is currently king and considered a usurper because he was not out of the house of David. It also becomes clear that he was not a nice king, had a bad attitude and was paranoid of someone taking his throne. He is visited by these wise men. I always thought there were 3 wise men but in reading the study portion of my Bible I realized that we don't know how many there were. We just know there were 3 gifts, which is where you get the 3 wise men. So these men come and ask Herod where this Messiah is to be born because they had seen his star rise and had been following it. Did you catch that? They saw his star rise.
"Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2
That told me these men were always watching the stars and saw this one which was different and watched as it rose into the sky. I also think these were very learned men because they knew to ask for the Messiah. Jesus is prophesied all over the Old Testament and this made me think that they had been taught or had access to Old Testament teachings. What I love about this part of the Christmas story is the mystery of it. The Bible does not give us all the details and to me that is part of what really drew me into these people.
The other thing I noticed and kept coming back to was their determination. We don't know where they were from but the Bible does let you know that they traveled far. At this time travel was a slow process and you did not get anywhere quickly. That tells me this star rose in the sky and they did not arrive at a little Bethlehem stable with a bunch of shepherds. This tells me that they saw God place that star at the birth of his son and these men spent months and months traveling. My Bible uses the term searching. I love that term because it lets me know that these men found something and they were willing to go to great lengths to find it. Are you willing to go to great lengths to find something God has shown you a glimpse of?
I don't want my personal walk with God to look like images of the next big fad in religion. I want people to look back on my life and see me like these wise men. Someone who spent her life searching for a deeper, stronger and closer walk with my God. Someone who did not give up when the road got rough but instead trusted what the Lord placed in front of my and followed. These men were truly acting on faith. They were following a star to a new country, talking to an unknown king about a new king, and then believing a dream when it told them not to return to Herod. What an amazing picture of faith. What a great image of the phrase "where you lead... I will follow".
I want to encourage you today to truly look at your life and relationship with the Lord as a journey. Just like the journey of these men. There will be good and bad times, but in it all we need to place our faith in the Lord, follow the path he has set before us and keep on going. Christmas is this week and I pray as we get closer to that day that you will truly pause to thank God not just for the birth of his son but for the fact that he came, died and rose on the 3rd day so that we might have salvation. Christmas is just the beginning of an amazing story that has not yet been finished.
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