DIVINE INTERCEPTION

“Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.” Matthew 2:12.

REFERENCE
Matthew 2:1-15

…Herod pretended to share the same quest with the wise men: to seek and worship the newborn King. But he wanted to harm the new Babe. He cunningly pretended to be a fan and friend of the New Born, but inwardly meant evil for Him. He later revealed his true intentions by murdering all male children two years old and under in Bethlehem in his determination to kill the Son of God.

It is interesting to see how God was always a step ahead of Herod and his evil schemes. Whatever he schemed, God intercepted it divinely.

To intercept something is to: stop it from happening; prevent someone from getting to a particular destination; come in between two scenarios to prevent them from colliding.

We often pray for divine intervention, but intervention only happens when we are already in trouble and we experience rescue. Interception, on the other hand, prevents the trouble from happening. It ensures that you and trouble never meet. It is interception when a thousand fall by your side and it never comes near you – when God gives men for your ransom; interception happens when what Satan plans for you never sees the light of day…or before it is hatched, God changes your course of action or movement.

Joseph and Mary too were divinely warned before Herod could get at their baby. God sent an angel to Paul before he embarked on a voyage, to intercept a disaster (but of course, the captain of the ship didn’t listen – Acts 28). When Saul almost caught up with David to kill him, God sent a messenger to him and turned him back. An Angel came to rescue Peter from a maximum-security prison the night before his execution by Herod.

You may not know it, but we are often products of divine interception. There are things God has kept from happening to us that only eternity will reveal. There are meals we didn’t eat, schools we didn’t go to, persons we didn’t marry, etc., that we may not have seen, but someday, we will look back and thank God for intercepting us.

Even now, God is interested in intercepting some troubles and stress from getting to you. But are you sensitive to His Spirit and guidance? Paul, the Magis, and Joseph, all heard God and so the evil was intercepted. Don’t be casual about your life, pray about everything and commit your ways to the Lord. He will prevent a bad marriage, a disastrous journey, a phony business deal, a bad investment and other looming challenges. You will sometimes not see the need to travel, you will suddenly feel like not going to a party, not picking a call, not spending the night in a particular place, nor entering a particular vehicle – and it will all be divine interception.

SCRIPTURE PHOTO