Almost 2,000 years before Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, Jacob and Rachel, another expectant couple, traveled the same road.
Rachel gave birth to Benjamin, but she died after delivery, and Jacob buried her near Bethlehem (see Gen. 35:19). Rachel’s death foreshadowed the devastation that the territory of Benjamin would suffer in Jeremiah’s time: “Rachel is weeping for her children . . . because they are no more” (Jer. 31:15; see also Matt. 2:17-18).
Yet the prophecy found its final fulfillment in Jesus’ day, when Herod the Great slaughtered all baby boys in Bethlehem. So, at God’s direction, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to live until Herod’s death (Matt. 2:13-23).
Each movement of Jesus’ family finds its cause in God’s revelation to Joseph—fleeing Bethlehem to Egypt, returning from Egypt to Israel, avoiding Judea to settle in Galilee. God’s purposes for these moves lay first in the protection of His Son, but Matthew notes that each directive also fulfilled Scripture. Doubtless anyone but God saw beforehand the murky prophecies fulfilled by these geographic moves. But in hindsight, they become clear.
As we strain to see tomorrow with all its uncertainties, we can take comfort that our God sees the future as clearly as the past. He seldom gives us all we need in order to understand, but He always gives us all we need to obey. Eventually, we discover that in our simple obedience to God’s Word, He has guided us along paths far too complex for us to see at the time.
He leads us with His wise—but often unusual—directives, always rooted in Scripture, for our good and for His glory.
By application, consider this prayer:
Lord, tomorrow is unknown, but You are already there. While I often don’t understand Your leading, I honestly don’t want to go anywhere else. As with all years past, I know that You will provide, You will guide, and I will follow.
Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), p. 24. Used by permission. Bethlehem photo courtesy of BiblePlaces.com.
When we listen to Christmas carols and look at Christmas cards, we often find them filled with sentimental terms such as “tidings,” “goodwill,” “noel,” “cheer” and “Merry Christmas.”
Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, Micah prophesied that One coming from eternity would bring the Jews back to their land and rule Israel with worldwide fame in the strength of the Lord (Micah 5:2-5). This mighty Messiah would come from the ignoble, little town of Ruth and David: Bethlehem (see Ruth 4:11, 22). 
For many people, the holidays draw up unpleasant memories. Sore spots in childhood or the loss of loved ones hit them hard during sentimental times. While many celebrate the joys of life, others suffer its loneliness. I’ve been there. 
I will never forget one evening during my first few days in Jerusalem. 
The freedom celebrated in the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall illustrates the freedom provided when another wall fell—thousands of years ago. 
Great transitions in our lives often come as a result of great pain. Our walls don’t fall on their own. Perhaps we endure the death of a loved one, a mentor, or a dream. Sometimes the unexpected loss of our job, our health or even our marriage comes as an unwelcome course in the curriculum God has for us. Often when we see the quickest and easiest way to where we want to go—or even where we should go—God allows surprises to cut across our path and force us to take a longer—and harder—route. 
The Jordan usually flowed a hundred feet wide at the place where Israel crossed over into Canaan after the Exodus (see Joshua 3:14–4:23). But because the Israelites crossed at flood stage, the river surged much wider and deeper. When the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the Jordan, the water ceased its flow 16 miles upstream. This left a stretch of dry land some 20 miles wide for the nation to cross 
But then, driving away from church, our family disagrees over where to eat. Or after our quiet time, our bickering children rapidly rob us of joy. Or on the way to work, a hurried driver cuts us off and waves with only a fraction of his hand. All of a sudden, commitment wanes. And these are the little things. What about real life crises? 
If you’ve ever felt the sting of a scorpion, you and I share a common awe at how something so small can produce a sting so painful. I get the same feeling from reading Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament. Written to ancient Edom east of the Jordan River, Obadiah gives a stinging rebuke to the sin of pride.
The Spring of Harod still flows from the mouth of a cave at the bottom of Mount Gilboa. Throughout the centuries, water from this spring refreshed innumerable travelers throughout the Harod Valley. It was here Gideon learned to trust God (Judges 7:1-25). 
God knew that the Hebrews, though badly outnumbered, would still boast in their victory. So the Lord told Gideon to bring his men down to the spring and separate them on the basis of how they drank. Thinning the ranks again put Gideon in a position in which his fear would be exposed. Gideon had sought security with the fleece, and though God acquiesced to the request, the Lord immediately countered by putting Gideon in an even more precarious position. If he struggled to trust God at 4 to 1 odds, how would he react to 450 to 1? 
Whenever I think of yesterday, 
“Do you keep them?” I asked.
Let me invite you to join Cathy and me in Israel, March 8-19, on the Insight for Living 2010 Tour with Chuck Swindoll. 
Sometimes it feels like God takes way too long.
I have walked in the wilderness where Satan tempted Christ, just west of where He was baptized. Good grief, what a place.
The devil is no idiot—and also no gentleman. When he tempts, he plays dirty. No rules. No concessions. No mercy. He waited for a moment of vulnerability and then tempted Jesus to satisfy His legitimate need for food in an illegitimate way: “Turn this stone to bread—use your power to gratify your need.” What a cheap shot. Every stone would then become a temptation. And believe me, the wilderness of Judea has plenty of stones! Jesus’ reply shows that—though He was physically hungry—He was spiritually full.
Jesus grew up with a hammer in one hand and a scroll in the other. He prepared for three-and-a-half years of ministry by spending about three-and-a-half decades learning the Word of God. And He learned it by living it; hence, the Father’s commendation at Jesus’ baptism.
For more than two years, the Apostle Paul lived in Ephesus and ministered to the church in that city. Later, he wrote the letter of Ephesians to them, and later still he penned two letters to their pastor, Timothy. The Ephesian church received incredible instruction! 
take a back seat. Remember what Christ asked Peter three times after Christ's resurrection? "Do you love Me?" (John 21:17). Remember what Jesus told a frantic Martha about her sister Mary, who sat at His feet? "Mary has chosen what is better" (Luke 10:42).
With three missionary journeys under his belt, six books of Scripture to his credit and thousands of people impassioned for God, Paul held quite a portfolio in his hands. If Paul’s career had stopped right there, no one would have protested; everyone would have stood up and applauded. Many would see age 50 as about time to start coasting and counting the years until retirement.
Two gardens, Eden and Gethsemane, provided the settings for two choices that brought opposite results.
don’t have to wonder if this will be our outcome. Adam has shown us it is so. Jesus’ decision in the Garden of Gethsemane, however, brought immeasurable blessing for humanity.
When a man named Mordecai Ham shared the good news of Jesus to a young boy one day, he had no idea the good that would result. Not many people know Ham’s name, but through his simple faithfulness, God converted Billy Graham. And through Graham . . . millions. 
In this lesson, David gained a profound respect for God’s holiness. His opening question in Psalm 15 reflects this awe: “O 
What a decadent story! It began with the Levite who traversed the backbone of the hill country of Israel, tracing several cities along a ridge-road called the “Way of the Patriarchs” (see Judges 19:1-20).
As God’s people today, we also live in a land without absolutes; a land in which the only standard not tolerated is intolerance.
My uncle has a painting by Bill Hampton hanging in his home. The picture shows a crusty old cowboy, rugged and wrinkled, squinting just past you. The caption at the bottom reveals his thoughts in simple terms: “There were a helluva lot of things they didn’t tell me when I hired on with this outfit.”
One time in Capernaum, Jesus set straight a crowd who intended to make Him king by force, and He spoke some hard words. Afterwards, many no longer followed Him (see John 6:66). Jesus turned to His men with a question: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (John 6:67).
The event of Jesus teaching a large crowd from a boat most likely occurred at a small cove along the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. One study revealed that about 14,000 people could fit on a hillside located there and still hear a lone voice from the cove below. Within this natural theater, Jesus taught the people.
Asking Jacob his name elicited nothing less than a confession, for Jacob means “heel–catcher” or “deceiver.” Having confessed, Jacob could then be blessed. “Your name shall no longer be Jacob,” the Man said, “but Israel [meaning “God fights”]; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed” (Gen. 32:28).
Feel like complaining? You’re not alone.
We read these accounts of the Hebrews’ complaints and shake our heads at their lack of faith. Why would they suppose God redeemed them from Egypt just to let them die in the wilderness? And yet how many times do we waffle between faith and fear in the course of one day—much less a month?
The question from the Hebrews’ parched tongues often sums up our own expectations: “Is the LORD among us, or not?” (v. 7). But put this assumption to logic: Must God really follow our rules? Do our circumstances prove God’s faithfulness, or do circumstances occur to prove our own (see Phil. 4:11-13)? We put God to the test when we get these backward.
The first “official” day of summer was June 21. But it’s been hot in Texas for years.
Skeptics have come to inspect the dimensions of the Tabernacle model at Timna only to find that it faithfully reproduces the proportions given in Exodus 35–40. But reading the description in Exodus can’t compare to standing outside what looked like the Tabernacle itself—and in the same wilderness! I felt as if I had walked through a doorway of history.
On New Years Day, 1863, Abraham Lincoln dipped his pen and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the states that tried to secede from the Union.
Consider it true of you, believer in Jesus: you are dead to sin’s power 
The thrill of the battle between David and Goliath often overshadows the staggering transition it produced (see 1 Samuel 17). Jonathan’s earlier victory at Michmash pushed the Philistines back out of King Saul’s territory. So, the Philistines’ next attempt to invade Israel came through their advance up the Elah Valley below Bethlehem—David’s hometown. Camped between Socoh and Azekah, the Philistines posed a major threat to Israel’s security. But no one in Saul’s army, including Saul, had the nerve to face the nine-foot-tall Goliath.
We never know what events God will use even today for His glory. So we should always remain faithful to perform our usual tasks wherever we find ourselves—and let God make them great according to His pleasure and purpose (see 1 Thess. 4:11).
I remember seeing at both Masada and Beersheba a one-inch painted black line running across the walls of the ruins. This line revealed the division between the original ruins below and the modern reconstruction built directly on top of it. In some places, if not for the line, I could make no distinction between the real and the reconstruction.
God never intended for us to display His Word as a museum prop without also displaying His Word in our lives. From the gold-leafed Guttenberg Bible in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, to the great Isaiah scroll encased in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem—our biblical monuments and mementos should reflect biblical motives. Otherwise, they simply mock our hypocrisy.
God began the human race with marriage. His first command, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28), required the physical union the Song of Songs extols. But God clearly intended sexuality as more than a means of multiplication. He created it to crown a marriage of affirmation with pleasure.
Although the bride initially felt insecure about her looks, after Solomon’s kind words, she compared herself to a rose in the Sharon Plain (see Song of Songs 2:1). She likened him to blossoms in Engedi, an oasis beside the Dead Sea’s brackish shores (see Song of Songs 1:14). Likewise, he compared her head to Mount Carmel, a symbol of great elevation in Israel (see Song of Songs 7:5).
Ascension Day on Thursday reminds us not only of Jesus leaving the Earth, but also of what He said before He ascended.
“One day you’re an unbeliever,” my Jewish friend Amir spoke of his conversion, “and the next day you’re a preacher!” When Amir saw the 
I recently had the privilege of joining Chuck Swindoll in the studio of Insight for Living to discuss my book, 
Nineteenth-century archaeologist William Ramsay began his career with the general assumption that the book of Acts contained careless, geographical errors written by someone ignorant of Asia Minor.
At 10:00 AM on this date each year, sirens ring loud throughout Israel.
because they were Jews. Today’s date marks 
A day of remembrance. How could anyone 
Moses said, “I’m not a good speaker.” Gideon said, “I’m not prominent enough.” Abraham said, “I’m too old.” Jeremiah said, “I’m too young.” Peter said, “I am a sinful man.” But God used them all—in spite of themselves. Why? They had willingness.
When you don’t want sugar, but you do want sweet, what do you use? A substitute. When you don’t want the menu item as is, what do you request? A substitute.
Few went to Nazareth unless they had to go there—the city sat off the beaten path and high on a hill. Yet it was the perfect place for the boy Jesus to grow up in safe seclusion, away from the grasp of any who might seek to harm Him (see Matt. 2:21–23).
A thriving fishing village, Capernaum straddled the international highway that stretched from Syria to Egypt. By choosing Capernaum, Jesus selected a city that enjoyed a constant flow of people who could carry His message to many places. And that’s just what happened. As Jesus preached in Galilee, “news about Him spread throughout all Syria” (v. 24). Not only did travelers take the news north into Syria, but they also took it by other roads into “Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan” (v. 25).
Looking across the Kidron Valley at the Temple Mount—now crowned with a Muslim shrine—I thought about how Jesus’ prediction proved true. Because Israel rejected Him, they ultimately lost the very objects they hoped to secure through His death—their Temple and their nation (see John 11:48).
My edition of George Adam Smith’s classic work, 
While reading one section of the book, I imagined standing again on Mount Nebo where Moses stood, looking at the drop below me as the warm winds rose from the valley. Smith’s picturesque excerpt describes it:
Listen as Wayne discusses the subject of prayer in evangelism on Campus Crusade for Christ's radio program, 
getting around obstacles, traveling across great distances, and finding something to drink no longer prove a challenge. Our transportation system requires little more than a basic understanding of road signs and airline gates!
Its message is enabled to have a more profound impact on one’s spiritual life and ministry. It helps the passage come alive to a reader in a way he or she can see, feel, hear, and thus, more properly understand and apply. An even greater benefit can occur when one uses his or her understanding of historical geography to experience the land of the Bible first-hand through a trip to Israel. I have seen this proven true many times.
young siblings who descended from one of the Von Trapps.
I auditioned as a guitar player, yet when the judges called me back the next day, they asked me to dance as well! Oh dear. I immediately lost the job.
The Scriptures teach that when the Messiah descends, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem and He will judge the nations (see Zech 14:4). Scattered along that hillside today, thousands of Jewish graves give testimony to the hope that those buried there will receive a more benevolent resurrection when Messiah comes.
In Psalm 24, David poses a profound question: “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?” (v. 3). A weighty answer follows: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (v. 4).
I need to stretch my prayers by remembering that asking God to bless my circumstances may be asking Him to change 
