The God Who Leads Through Disruption
The God Who Leads Through Disruption
Matthew 2:14 ESV
"And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt."
Matthew 2 is one of those chapters that feels very different when we slow down and read the entire story rather than remembering only the individual scenes we associate with Christmas. We see the wise men following the star and bringing gifts to Jesus, but the chapter is also filled with political corruption, fear, violence, displacement, uncertainty, and repeated changes of plans. Joseph and Mary have barely begun raising Jesus when their lives are disrupted again.
In Matthew 1, Joseph surrendered the future he had planned and took Mary as his wife. We might expect that kind of obedience to lead into a season of stability, but Matthew 2 shows us almost the opposite. Foreign visitors arrive looking for the newborn King, Herod discovers that a potential rival to his throne has been born, and Joseph is warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt. Herod then orders the murder of the young boys in Bethlehem. Eventually Herod dies, Joseph is told that it is safe to return, and the family begins traveling back toward Israel. Even then, Joseph discovers that Herod's son is ruling in Judea, receives another warning, changes direction again, and eventually settles his family in Nazareth.
Matthew 2 is a chapter of disruption, but underneath all of that disruption, Matthew wants us to recognize that God is still leading.
This brings us to an important theological idea called providence. God's providence refers to the way He continually sustains His creation, governs history, and works through circumstances to accomplish His purposes. Providence does not mean that everything happening in the world is good, nor does it mean that God approves of every action people take. It means that nothing happening in the world places God in a position where His purposes can ultimately be defeated.
That distinction is especially important when we consider Herod. Matthew makes no attempt to soften the evil of his actions. Herod is threatened by the possibility of another king, manipulates the wise men, lies about his intentions, and eventually orders the slaughter of innocent children in an attempt to protect his throne. He acts according to his own corrupt desires and remains morally responsible for what he does. At the same time, his evil cannot overthrow what God is accomplishing through Jesus.
This brings us into one of the important theological tensions found throughout Scripture: divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God's sovereignty means that He possesses ultimate authority over His creation. There is no rival power equal to Him, and history is not moving outside His ultimate rule. Yet Scripture also consistently treats human beings as genuinely responsible for their decisions. Herod is not presented as a puppet carrying out actions for which he bears no responsibility. He chooses evil, and God remains sovereign even over circumstances created by that evil.
We see this same truth much more clearly later in the story of Jesus. The crucifixion was an act of tremendous human injustice. Judas betrayed Jesus, religious leaders falsely accused Him, Pilate knowingly sentenced an innocent man, and Roman soldiers carried out the execution. Scripture treats those individuals as responsible for their actions, yet the cross was also at the center of God's plan of redemption. God was not surprised by Calvary. In His sovereignty, He accomplished salvation through the very event sinful humanity intended for destruction.
That does not somehow turn evil into good. Instead, it reminds us that evil is never powerful enough to prevent God from accomplishing His good purposes.
That distinction becomes extremely important when we experience disruption ourselves. Christians sometimes feel pressure to immediately explain painful circumstances by saying, "God did this for a reason." While that statement may be intended to comfort someone, it can oversimplify the biblical picture. Scripture gives us room to call evil evil, grief grief, injustice injustice, and loss loss while still trusting that God remains sovereign.
Matthew does exactly that in this chapter. When Herod orders the death of the children in Bethlehem, Matthew does not rush past the suffering or pretend that it somehow should not hurt because God is still in control. Instead, he reaches back to the prophet Jeremiah and describes the grief with the image of Rachel weeping for her children. There is room within a strong theology of God's sovereignty for genuine tears. Trusting God's providence does not require us to pretend painful things are not painful. It means believing that pain does not have the final word.
We see this pattern throughout the larger story of Scripture. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, and their actions were genuinely evil. Years later, Joseph could look back and recognize that although they intended evil against him, God was able to accomplish good through what happened. David spent years running from Saul even though God had already anointed him to become king. Israel experienced exile and wondered whether God's promises had failed. Again and again, Scripture refuses to promise God's people a life without disruption. Instead, it reveals a God who remains faithful in the middle of it.
Matthew 2 also introduces us to another theological concept called typology. Biblical typology describes the way certain people, events, and patterns earlier in Scripture anticipate something greater that God will later accomplish. These earlier events were real historical events, but God also uses them as patterns that point forward to a greater fulfillment.
Matthew deliberately describes the early life of Jesus in ways that remind us of Israel's story. Israel went down into Egypt, and Jesus goes down into Egypt. God referred to Israel as His son, and Matthew quotes Hosea when Jesus returns: "Out of Egypt I called my son." As Matthew's Gospel continues, the pattern becomes even clearer. Israel passed through the waters and entered the wilderness. Jesus will pass through the waters of baptism in Matthew 3 and immediately enter the wilderness in Matthew 4.
Matthew is showing us that Jesus is not simply another character appearing somewhere near the end of Israel's story. He is bringing Israel's story to its fulfillment. Where God's people repeatedly struggled to trust and obey Him, Jesus will remain perfectly faithful.
This brings us into Christology, which simply means the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Matthew is developing his understanding of who Jesus is from the opening chapters of his Gospel. Jesus is the promised King from Matthew 1, but He is also the true Son who succeeds where Israel failed. The story is moving toward the reality that Jesus will accomplish what sinful humanity could never accomplish for itself.
All of that theology is happening in the background while Joseph is simply trying to figure out where his family should live.
That may be one of my favorite parts of the chapter because Joseph has no idea how much of the story he is participating in. God repeatedly leads him, but He rarely gives Joseph very much information. He is told to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt, so he goes. Later he is told to return to Israel, so he returns. When circumstances change again, he adjusts again and eventually settles in Nazareth.
I think I would have wanted considerably more information. I would have wanted to know how long we were staying in Egypt, where we were going to live, how I was supposed to provide for my family, when we were coming home, and why all of this was happening after I had already obeyed God in Matthew 1. Joseph apparently receives very few of those answers. Instead, God gives him enough direction for the next act of obedience.
That challenges me because I often want God's guidance to function more like a GPS. I want to know the destination, see every turn, understand how long the journey will take, and preferably know about every problem before I encounter it. God often leads differently. Sometimes He gives us enough light to see the next step and asks us to trust Him with everything beyond it.
This is where the theology of Matthew 2 becomes incredibly practical. We can believe intellectually that God is sovereign while still struggling tremendously when we cannot control what happens next. Uncertainty has a way of exposing how much security we have placed in our own ability to manage outcomes. It is relatively easy to say that I trust God when His plan looks similar to mine. Trust becomes much more real when His direction takes me somewhere I never expected to go.
Joseph had already surrendered his reputation in Matthew 1 when he took Mary as his wife. Now he has to surrender his location, his security, his timeline, and his understanding of what comes next. His surrender is not a single emotional moment. It becomes a repeated pattern of obedience as circumstances continue changing.
That does not mean every disruption in our lives is a direct message from God. We should be careful about trying to interpret every inconvenience as though God were sending us a hidden spiritual message. A canceled appointment, unexpected bill, or flat tire does not automatically contain some secret revelation we are supposed to decode. Yet disruption does have a way of revealing what is happening within us. It exposes what we thought we controlled, reveals where we have placed our security, and shows us how tightly we have been holding our plans.
Sometimes disruption also creates space for God to lead us somewhere we never would have chosen on our own.
One of the most important truths in Matthew 2 is that God's presence and difficult circumstances are not opposites. Joseph was not outside God's will when he was fleeing to Egypt. He was directly following God's instruction. Mary was not experiencing upheaval because she had failed to trust God. The disruption was happening while she was faithfully walking in what God had asked of her. Even Jesus, the Son of God, entered a world in which His family experienced danger and displacement.
That challenges a version of Christianity that assumes obedience should always produce comfort. We can begin to believe that if we are following God correctly, doors should open, relationships should work, finances should stabilize, plans should succeed, and problems should resolve. Sometimes God graciously gives us seasons like that. At other times, following Him leads directly through circumstances we never would have chosen.
The presence of difficulty does not automatically mean the absence of God. Sometimes the clearest evidence of His leadership is not that He prevented the disruption but that He faithfully guided us through it.
There is something even larger happening in Joseph's ordinary obedience. The family fleeing toward Egypt is carrying the Savior of the world, although Joseph cannot possibly comprehend everything that means. From his perspective, he is trying to protect his family and obey what God told him to do. From the perspective of the entire biblical story, he is participating in one of the most important moments in redemptive history. That theological phrase simply refers to the unfolding story of God's work throughout history to rescue His creation from sin and ultimately restore all things through Christ.
Joseph is participating in that enormous story simply by taking the next faithful step.
That encourages me because most obedience does not feel historically significant while we are doing it. Usually it feels ordinary. It may look like having the conversation God has been prompting us to have, forgiving someone, changing direction, admitting we were wrong, trusting God with our children, remaining faithful in a difficult season, or taking one step even though we cannot see the five steps after it. We rarely know how God may use those ordinary acts of obedience.
Matthew 2 reminds us that surrender is not simply giving God our plans once. Sometimes we have to surrender them again every time circumstances change. Joseph obeyed God when he took Mary as his wife. He obeyed again when God directed him toward Egypt. He obeyed again when God told him to return. Then he adjusted again when the path eventually led toward Nazareth. Following God required repeated surrender because each new season brought another opportunity to trust Him.
Perhaps that is where you find yourself today. Maybe you already surrendered something to God, but the circumstances have changed again. You thought you had adjusted to the new plan, and now there is another disruption. You thought you knew where things were headed, and suddenly you do not. Matthew 2 reminds us that God's faithfulness is not measured by how predictable our lives become. His faithfulness is revealed in the fact that He continues leading us through every unexpected turn.
Ultimately, our confidence is not simply that God has a plan. Our confidence is in the God who entered our broken world Himself. The Christian doctrine of the incarnation teaches that the eternal Son of God truly took on human nature and entered human history as Jesus Christ. God did not remain distant from suffering, uncertainty, rejection, or pain. In Jesus, He stepped directly into them.
The child fleeing Herod would eventually become the man standing before Pilate. The child carried into Egypt would eventually carry a cross toward Golgotha. The King Herod could not destroy would one day willingly lay down His life for us, and through His resurrection He would demonstrate that even death itself cannot overthrow God's redemptive purposes.
That is why surrender is ultimately more than trusting that circumstances will eventually work out the way we want. We are surrendering ourselves to Jesus. The One leading us knows suffering, rejection, uncertainty, and pain, and He has already demonstrated both His love at the cross and His authority through the resurrection. Because of that, I do not have to understand every disruption in order to trust the God who leads me through it.
As you read Matthew 2 today, consider the disruptions in your own life. Maybe there is something happening right now that you did not choose, cannot control, and still do not understand. Rather than demanding that God explain the entire situation, perhaps begin with a smaller and more important question: "Jesus, what does faithfulness look like for me today?"
Joseph did not receive the entire roadmap, and we often will not either. But God faithfully gave him the next step, and Joseph faithfully took it. The God who led Joseph through Bethlehem, Egypt, and eventually Nazareth is still capable of leading us through every unexpected turn in our own lives.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You remain sovereign even when life feels completely disrupted. Thank You for Your providence and for the assurance that nothing we encounter is powerful enough to overthrow Your ultimate purposes. Help us never use Your sovereignty to minimize pain, excuse evil, or rush past grief. Instead, teach us to trust You honestly in the middle of circumstances we would never have chosen.
Forgive us for the times we have assumed that following You should always make life easier or more predictable. Give us the faith of Joseph to obey when we only know the next step. When our plans change, our security feels threatened, or the future becomes unclear, remind us that You have not stopped leading.
Thank You most of all for Jesus, who did not remain distant from our broken world but entered it. Thank You that through His death and resurrection we know that suffering, evil, and even death will never have the final word. Today, we surrender again what we cannot control. Lead us through every disruption and show us what faithfulness looks like right where You have placed us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Cross-References for Further Study
Genesis 12:1-4
Isaiah 60:1-6
Hosea 11:1
Jeremiah 31:15
Philippians 2:5-11
Romans 12:1-2
Questions to Carry
Where do I see worship, control, obedience, and lament in Matthew 2?
What does the identity of Jesus change about the way I understand surrender?