The angel said to Joseph, “Take the young child and flee to Egypt.”  Why didn’t the angel say, “Stay right where you are and I will show Herod a thing or two”?  Herod could not have fought against one heavenly angel.  There is a time to flee and a time to stand.  There is a time to be let down over the wall in a basket (Acts 9:25) and there is time to go to Rome and die.  Some have been divinely led to flee persecution to later die with no way of fleeing.  The angels of heaven stood by the cross waiting for the command to defend the Son, but He never called them.  He was taking His stand.  In laying down His life He took a stand for all of us.

You are reading from the devotional book “Growing Toward Maturity”, by H. Lamar Smith.