Can You Give Me Some Directions?

Psalm 38:15 Lord I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.

Texting in the hands of a busy, middle-aged mother of four can be a dangerous indeed. Unfortunately I had to learn this the hard way. Our fifteen year old, Hannah, was crawling across five states in a youth bus headed to ski in Colorado. Anytime the opportunity presents itself to communicate with a child who is hundreds of miles from home, I am nothing short of ecstatic.

Like icing on the cake, I was already mid-texting conversation with my friend Lori when Hannah's text notification popped up. As I lined up a babysitter on one conversation, I chatted about bus adventures on the other. Not just every forty year old is such a delightful mixture of savvy and sophisticated. At least this is how I assessed myself until I texted my friend Lori and asked her where she'd stopped for breakfast this morning.

When I realized my mistake, embarrassment engulfed my savvy and left me silly instead. Since Lori lives just one street behind me, she must have thought I spend my Sundays monitoring my neighbors movements. Without a moment's hesitation, she reported they had gone out to get doughnuts. At that particular moment I'd like to have crawled into my device labeled iPhone and licked my wounds amongst the safety of its' circuitry.

Today's passage is Matthew 2. In Matthew's birth account, he skips the welcome party announced by angels and attended by shepherds and goes straight for the after party. Some time later, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem in search of Jesus. They came armed with presents for the newborn king. The star had guided them to Jerusalem but then taken a leave of absence long enough to prompt the wise men to pull their camels over at the nearest watering hole and ask for directions.

Unfortunately they asked Insecure Herod who couldn't share the limelight if it were shining directly down on his head. Herod's stated intention was to worship Christ himself but his actual plan was to eliminate the competition for his throne. After their encounter with the wise men, Joseph wasted no time relocating his little family to safety of Egypt. An angel had warned Joseph to protect his son. One simple communication preserved three lives.

While the wise men's poor decision of trusting Herod didn't cost Jesus His life, it did end the life of every male in that area under the age of two. They had made a fatal mistake.

In this fast-paced world where I can barely manage to keep my texting conversations straight, I wonder if I like the wise men foolishly ask the wrong people for directions. The wise men could have surpassed Herod and sought their needed advice directly from the Jewish scholars. Sheepishly I must admit, that all to often I seek answers from the wrong sources. If instead I chose to slow down and ask the Right Source, I would avoid many mistakes.

Jesus, today help me slow down and seek the only Source of truth. There I will get the correct answers to my questions. When I pause to fill my tank at Your gas station, the fuel is always premium grade.