Do not be afraid...

Joseph.

I have been thinking a lot about Joseph this month.  Some of the devotionals I have been reading have reminded me that he is sometimes the “forgotten one” in the Christmas story. Understandably, there is so much focus on Jesus and on Mary but Joseph was an important part of the story, too.

I am sure Joseph had big dreams and had been planning on a wonderful future and family with Mary. I wonder why God didn’t tell Joseph right away about His plan for them. Scripture tells us that Joseph didn’t know what was going on and was hurt when he found out that Mary was pregnant….I imagine he was broken hearted and confused about the future. All his dreams were destroyed…at least it seemed so at the time.

I can relate to that! How often we make plans for the future and then feel brokenhearted when we see that God has allowed our plans to be changed. But God! We could not handle the brokenness except for the grace and love of God! But God… A dear friend has used those two words a lot recently…But God! God saw the big picture….God knew the future better than Joseph did. God knew how Joseph could be used to bring glory to His name. God had a plan…and it was bigger than any plan Joseph could have imagined!

But he let Joseph feel the deepness of the valley first. I am not sure why he didn’t just tell Joseph the same night he told Mary. I think there must have been a lesson there for Joseph to learn. Was God teaching Joseph “When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart”? That he would need to continue to trust God throughout his life as Jesus’ earthly father when he didn’t understand what was going on?  

I can only imagine how hard the road was for Mary and Joseph as they sought to raise Jesus knowing He was God’s son and would face incredible persecution in the future. You know they wanted to protect Him….as parents, we don’t want anyone to mess with our children! Yet they had to trust God over and over again….I believe God handpicked Joseph just like He handpicked Mary for the job of being Jesus’ earthly parents. Even though we don’t read about Joseph later in the Bible and many wonder if he died before Jesus went out into the world, I believe he must have been a special husband and father. One who provided security and nurturing to his family, one who guided with love and humility, one who set a good earthly example of a father to Jesus, one who gave Mary arms to fold into when she was worried about Jesus. God wouldn’t have allowed just anyone to be the earthly father to His son. Joseph was special yet God still had to teach him much.

When God allowed Joseph to experience deep hurt, I think He taught Joseph to trust Him even when he didn’t understand the whys. He still does that today. God sees the big picture. We don’t. He is still saying to us over and over again, “Do not be afraid.”

I can tell God is at work in my life.  I don’t know what the future holds but He is constantly reminding me to trust Him and to “not be afraid”. Joseph got it right. Scripture tells us that after the angel appeared to him and told him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, he “immediately” did what the angel told him to do. Obedience.

But God.  Obedience.  Do not be afraid.

Big words, important words, words of faith, words of trust.

Do not be afraid. Afraid of what?  Has God been nudging you to do something and you have been trying to ignore it because it causes you discomfort? Is He asking you to do something out of your comfort zone? He is working on me….I am hearing those words, “Do not be afraid” in several areas of my life right now.

Lord, help us all be like Joseph.

Help us to not be afraid when you ask us to do something for You.