It's Day 10 of my current blogging series, where I'm writing through the 15 days of Advent, based on the devotionals in "Meet Him at the Manger", by Jill and Stuart Briscoe.
The passage of Scripture we're reading today is Matthew 1: 18 - 21 ...
The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
You can imagine Joseph’s anxiety over this situation he was one of God’s people, a righteous man, who lived for Him and according to His standards. For Joseph’s wife to be found pregnant before the consummation ceremony was not only socially embarrassing, but it called into question his devotion to God. It would appear to everyone that he had ignored God’s way and indulged his own selfish lusts.
Joseph sought to solve his dilemma in the best, least shameful way, by discreetly calling an end to the marriage and sending Mary away quietly.
In his mind, this was the best solution for everyone.
The key phrase in the Bible passage is "he had in mind ..."
Often, when we encounter difficult circumstances, we think we know what we need to do; we think we have a plan to fix the situation.
However, quite often, we realise that God has a much better plan for us.
What we don't see the Bible saying is that "Joseph’s first reaction was to go to God in prayer about the situation." It was only after "he considered his plan" that the LORD told Joseph His plan.
This is the first key lesson we can take from today’s Bible reading: No matter how big our problem may seem, our first response should be to go to God in prayer, and seek His wisdom, and then trust Him to guide us through.
A second key lesson we can learn from this passage is that God can turn what we view to be a problem into a wonderful solution - a solution or a differentdirection that is usually (and surprisingly) better than we even imagined it could be. We’re all a bit like Joseph, I think, especiallywhen what's facing us is bigger or harder or scarier than we know how to handle. We all have the tendency to limit ourselves by following our tried-and-true ways of doing things. And many of us limit God, by forgetting to ask Him what He wants us to do in the situation!
I pray that if you - like me - have any "Joseph-tendencies, this Advent season we'll be brave enough and smart enough to listen to that small voice that's asking us to go beyond our tried-and-tested ways in order to surrender more fully to God, so that He can be more fully Emmanuel, “God with us”, in our own lives and in the world around us.
