Do you remember when you were young? Or, perhaps you are in your youth now. Most likely you had great plans for your life; what you were going to do, what you intended to accomplish and how much money you were going to make. But as the years passed, for most of us anyway, it might not have turned out just exactly as we had planned. For me, I know I had envisioned preaching to great crowds and filling stadiums like Billy Graham, telling people about Jesus and winning multitudes to the Lord. However, as the years passed, one thing leading to another, I found myself only influencing a handful at a time. As I got older and the obvious told me that my dream was never going to happen, I learned to accept, that for some, God has chosen ministry to the masses, and for some of us, we are limited to a select few. But age and experience in the scripture has taught me that, just perhaps, if we are doing what God has given us to do, whether that includes thousands, millions, or a handful, success is not measured by a number, but by our obedience.
I feel like it was that way with Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. We aren’t told much about him in the Bible. But I am certain he had great dreams as he prepared for his life with the girl, Mary. Maybe his ambition was to have a great carpentry shop that was famous all over Israel. Maybe he thought of success and consequently, making a very good living for his family. But that never became a reality. We can read most of what the Bible had to say about him in the first two chapters of Matthew and in Luke chapter 2. Very little is said of him, other than in genealogies after those few chapters. But what we learn lets us know just how great a man he really was. Oh, he never accomplished fame. He spent his life in his humble carpenter shop in Nazareth. He didn’t really have a glorious business or fulfill his dreams, and quite possibly his life was somehow cut short because we read nothing about him after that. But here is what we know: When Mary came up pregnant out of wedlock (for they were espoused – which is a little more serious than our own engagement – it was as binding as actually being married). By Old Testament Law, Joseph had the right to have her stoned to death for unfaithfulness. But because of his love for her, he determined to “put her away privately,” or in other words, divorce her without making her a public spectacle. He would just bow out of her life.
That night, in a dream, the angel of the LORD appeared to him. The Bible doesn’t identify this angel but I am pretty sure it was Gabriel, the same one who had appeared to Mary in the beginning of all of this. He told Joseph to not put her away, but to go ahead and marry her. The angel further explained that the child she carried was a miraculous child. Mary had not been unfaithful to him and God had caused a virgin to become pregnant with the Messiah – the very Son of God!
Then, when Caesar Augustus decided to tax all the kingdoms he had conquered (but it wasn’t just his decision, for God moved the world to place Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem as it had been prophesied), Jospeh had to take his very pregnant wife on a journey nearly 100 miles to his city of birth – Bethlehem. Once there, God further blocked them from staying in the inn and having to humbly spend the night and consequently give birth to the Savior in a stable – more like a cave under the inn where they kept the livestock of those guests in the inn – making it easier for the visit of the shepherds later that night. God orchestrated the entire thing, but Joseph had to be obedient to wind up where they were.
Two years later, the angel appeared in another dream, shortly after the visit of the wise men, instructing Joseph to immediately rise up and take his small family into Egypt because King Herod was getting his soldiers ready to kill every boy child, two years and under in the town of Bethlehem in hopes of killing this “king” that the magi had told him about.
Finally, some years later, after Herod’s death, the angel appeared in a dream to joseph one more time telling him it was safe to return to Israel, fulfilling yet another prophecy that God would call His Son out of Egypt. They returned all the way to Nazareth, after which Joesph is mentioned in Luke 2 and then not seen in scripture again except for genealogies.
The point is that Joseph gave up his dreams for what God wanted to do with Jesus. Joseph put his own life on hold in obedience to God. It may have seemed as though he sacrificed much but in fact, by being obedient to God his name is recorded in scripture for millions to learn from. You see, God has a way of turning a few into multitudes. He did that with a little boy’s lunch and fed thousands of people. Over and over in the Bible, God took a small bit and made it great.
And He wants to do that for you and me too. He might take us in a completely different life direction than what we thought, what we imagined and what we hoped for. It may have seemed as though we had to sacrifice. But in the end, whether you are just beginning to be obedient to God’s will for you, or whether you are like me and are living in the latter parts of your life, God has gotten us to where we are today. Life might not seem fair. It may feel as though your path could have been better but in fact we are probably right where God want us.
We have life choices to make. We could do as Joseph could have done and made a public spectacle of our Mary. Or we can do as Joseph did and be obedient to what and where God is leading us. This Christmas season, take a moment and examine your life. In so doing, I’d be willing to bet that you can look back and see that, even in those times when it felt like God wasn’t being fair, that it has brought you just where you need to be. And if you are facing the challenge of being obedient to God right now, remember Joseph. Do as he did, obeying the leading of God and I promise, when you near your end, you can look back and see His hand all through your life, and know that He has really given you the very best.
— Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge