Saturday Reading: Matthew 1:18-21
Key Verse: Matthew 1:19
19 But Joseph, her husband to be, being just, and not willing to make her a public example, he purposed to put her away secretly.
Devotion:
We can imagine all we would like to but I’m sure that we would not be able to think of all that was going through Josephs mind when he found out that Mary was pregnant. None of us seem to be strong enough to believe what someone else will tell us, no matter how much that they will try to persuade us – we always have to have something else that will convince us of the truth. People telling us about the things of God are along the same way – we don’t like to believe it because it makes us out to be the guilty ones, we then would have to change our lives and we would also have to submit to someone else and be under God’s authority. We don’t naturally like any of that... because we have grown up exercising our sin nature instead of exercising what God has given us!
When Joseph was told by the angel of the Lord that Mary was actually carrying the baby that was from God, he must have been totally flabbergasted! Not only was he being confronted by an angel but that angel was telling him that he would have to care for Christ, Emmanuel, our Saviour. All the sayings of the prophets were suddenly coming together right in front of him and he was in the centre of it all! If ever there was a time when two people would come together closer than any time before it was there and then when they both realised that they had been chosen to look after our Jesus.
We can look back and think about the miracle that took place, about the strain that it may have initially put on their relationship – we could imagine all sorts of things... but the fact remains that this is what was supposed to happen. God has this plan for us and nothing will change His plan. He knows what lies ahead for each of us and He continues to try and make us see His will in our lives. He continues to watch over us, to protect us, to bring us to the right place and the right time so that we can find His will at the perfect time. Far too often we ignore what He does in our lives and try to make our own way through it all. Trust God! He knows!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you trust?
Will you follow God?
