Life Wasn't Meant to be Easy (5)

If I asked you to take a wild guess at how many refugees there are in the world today, what number would you choose? Well, in total, 122.6 million people globally were forcibly displaced over the past twelve months. That's mind-blowing, isn't it? The thing about refugees is that, by and large, they aren't treated very well. In some parts of the globe, there are so many that the numbers simply overwhelm the capacity of even the friendliest of neighbouring governments to help them. And then, there are often ethnic and political tensions that result in them being treated terribly indeed. That term "forcibly displaced" sanitises the brutal reality. Many live in fear and uncertainty, in squalid camps for years on end without any hope for the future. It's something that, seriously, you'd never wish upon your worst enemy, right? I mean, imagine if that were you and your family? And yet, Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the very Son of God, were "forcibly displaced" to Egypt because of an assassination plot; Israelites into an Arab nation. Think about that. Jesus – a refugee in a hostile land. Matthew 2:14-15 So Joseph got ready and left for Egypt with the child and the mother. They left during the night. Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This gave full meaning to what the Lord said through the prophet: "I called my son to come out of Egypt." Sometimes, when we find ourselves as refugees amidst the complex, messy and difficult circumstances of life … it feels either as though God doesn't understand or He doesn't care. Friend, nothing could be further from the truth. That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.