Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed......

Mt 2:1-12

When Jesus Was Born In Bethlehem Of Judea,

in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage."
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, 
for thus it has been written through the prophet:And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel."
Then Herod called the magi secretly 
and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 
"Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word, 
that I too may go and do him homage."
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed......

Lord, the more I read scripture, the more I see how far our times are from you.   It seems like a fluke or a freak that hears you so clearly now.  Yet in the days when you were on earth and even before and soon after it was the norm.  It was expected.  Now, no one expects to hear you. 

It seems that the devil has also been done away with and replaced by insanity and that is what I am fighting every day. 

 I bought into that lie a long time ago and have a hard time letting it go, even when the evidence is clear.  Somewhere I picked up the notion that you do not speak to people these days, that we are too sophisticated or that all the stories of you speaking in the past are myths, like the Greek Gods or Goddesses, stories that people told to  make sense out of things that could not be understood by human reason.  I do believe as is told, that the best lie the devil the has ever propagated is not that you don't exist.  It is that he doesn't exist.  

Lord, I know that you are you and he is he and that you are the winner in the end but sometimes that doesn't even seem real, true or possible when I look around.  How often have you spoken truths to me and I believed it while it was easy, but later when "reason" starts to turn in my head, I start to believe I am crazy or am having visions of grandeur.  After all, why would you speak so clearly to a nobody like me?  Then I look at many of the great or maybe I should say horrible sinners in the Bible and see how you spoke to them.  Many of them did way worse things than I .  Then I tell myself maybe you used them because of the huge contrast and you don't use mediocre sinners to do your work and speak to them.  I tell myself that you use really bad people or really good people but not regular people like me.  Then I think how stupid am I?  You are not bipolar.  You are all inclusive,  the equal opportunity employer if ever there was one.  Lord, help me hold on to your truth, to the Truth that you want  me to come closer to you and that you need me, that I am a worker in the vineyards and I have a job to accomplish before I die.