20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
I cannot imagine what it felt like to be Joseph. The woman he was engaged to was scandalously pregnant and it was not by him. In my minds eye, the narrative that plays is one where Joseph must have been crushed and was fully convinced that she was lying. Yet somehow he was determined to divorce her quietly prior to this angelic encounter.
I have asked the question, "Would I have believed the angel?" Knowing me, I would have thought I was just hallucinating. Objectively, I would have concluded, "I just want this relationship to work out so bad that I am willing to believe almost anything." Maybe you can relate. Have you ever been in a bad relationship and somehow convinced yourself that it was still salvageable, when inwardly you knew that it was a train wreck? The reality is that many of us stubbornly believe what we want to believe, even when the evidence does not support that verdict.
Yet incomprehensively Joseph had a change of heart when he was told not to "fear" taking Mary as his wife. To accomplish this, fearlessness, would have been a gigantic feat in itself. Every private conversation, every stare at her belly, every good night hug, would have led me to dance with fear as my partner many times.
Can you imagine these tapes playing over and over again in your minds eye? "Yes, your right, Joseph, it is not your child, it belongs to someone else." "Yes, and that someone has already hand picked the name Jesus, for you to beckon when you call him."
Throughout history many people have chosen to focus on Mary during the Christmas season, but Joseph desperately deserves more press coverage for his remarkable faith. He had to make a decision that would define his spirituality. "Do I want to trust God or myself?" Many times in our lives we also have to ask that very same perplexing question.
Joseph of course, ultimately decided to reach beyond logic and emphatically chose to trust God. Yes, the story sounded bazaar, but within the corridors of his being one thing would always prove true, he knew the Lord and his wife very well. Life doesn't always make sense when you follow the Lord, but by doing so your life will be filled with stories of beauty and vivid living color.
So how should God's people move forward in life? We need to discover how to become more intimately connected with God (Like Joseph), whereas we can accurately assess the direction God has for us. When we venture to know Him well, even when the forecast is overcast and bleak, we can have confidence that one day those clouds will fade and we will once again see the sun.
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