He Found Rest
I spent the day working in the woodshop, much like every other day. But today I stayed late into the evening, pounding nails and assembling boards, all the while my mind in another place. I was distracted by the news Mary had given me not more than twenty-four hours ago. Her eyes spilled tears as her trembling hand took mine. The words came quietly, slowly from her lips. But there was only one word I heard clearly: pregnant. The rest of what she said faded into a fog of disbelief and confusion.
All day long I continued to try to make sense of this incredible news. Mary and I were engaged to be married and excited for that day to come. I loved her deeply, but I hadn’t touched her. And now she’s pregnant…so how could I trust her? The news seemed more discreditable than incredible. As I walked through the darkness of the evening, kicking up dust with each step, I knew what I had to do. While I really did love her, I knew I couldn’t marry someone I couldn’t trust. I had no intention of disgracing her publicly or making a spectacle of her, but I would meet with her in the morning to discreetly break off the engagement. That would be best for both of us.
I ate a late supper and soon headed off to bed, saddened and so disappointed, but resolute in my decision. I was sleeping soundly and dreaming vividly when I heard an angel call my name. “Joseph,” he said clearly, “don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The child she carries within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit…” Wait…Mary had spoken the truth! She wasn’t unfaithful to me; she was being faithful to God! The angel went on to confirm all the formerly foggy, but all-important details exactly as Mary had described it, “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The angel reminded me of the prophecies I’d been told since I was a little boy. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us.’” The dream ended abruptly as I startled awake. I sat up in bed, reliving in my mind everything I had just seen and heard, certain that I had just encountered the presence and message of the Lord. I set aside my own plans and did as the Lord commanded, taking Mary as my wife. Although we were now married, we were not sexually intimate until after the baby was born. And when he came, I named him Jesus, just as the angel had commanded.
Just as it must have been hard for Mary to believe God’s incredible plan, so also I can only imagine the thoughts and questions that ran through Joseph’s mind as the story of their lives played out. He wasn’t planning on a baby any more than Mary was, especially because he knew with absolute certainty that there’s no way he was the baby’s father. He must have questioned her story, her faithfulness, her credibility, and thus their entire future together. He pondered, considered, and devised a plan. And then God stepped in, meeting him in his subconscious. The angel spoke with such clarity and authority that Joseph scratched his own plans, even though doing so would create a whole different set of questions and reactions from the world around them But Immanuel was coming, God in the flesh, and Joseph had been chosen to be his father here on earth.
So again, I ask, what about you? Do the impossibilities of earth keep you from believing the God of above and beyond? Do you take things into your own hands or do you surrender all things to the hand of God? Do you allow yourself to be reminded of the prophesied and promised Word of God? Are you willing to set aside your humanly devised plans in order to obey the God of the impossible, fully submitting to His unsearchable and inscrutable ways? Mary wasn’t the only one who had to make a choice. Joseph did too. Mary said “Yes,” and Joseph found rest as he too was faithful to comply with the will of God, even though he couldn’t have possibly understood it all. He found heavenly peace in taking the young mother of the world’s Savior to be his wife, to lead and love and raise the very Son of God, to be the earthly father to the heavenly King.
