God Confirms His Strange Will

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way.  When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.  But as he considered these things, behold, and angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’” 

Matthew 1:18-21

I am not a man.  It’s much easier for me to relate to Mary than to Joseph.  However, I can imagine how he must have felt when he found out that the woman he was betrothed to was pregnant.  Regardless of what she said, I would have a hard time believing she hadn’t been unfaithful. What a gracious man Joseph was, that he decided to divorce Mary quietly rather than putting her on blast and subjecting her to public shame and punishment.  Mary could have been stoned to death in that day. 

But God did not leave Joseph to doubt.  God confirmed that he had performed the impossible and that Mary was going to give birth to a savior.  It was only natural for Joseph to question and doubt the claims of Mary, but he would not be able to doubt the witness of the angel in his dream.  I wonder why the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream rather than in person.  Whatever the reason, Joseph was convinced.  “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife” (Matthew 1:24). 

For Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, and now Joseph, God provided undeniable confirmation of the miracle that was about to take place.  He didn’t leave any room for doubt.  This is such an amazing evidence of the Lord’s compassion for us.  God is truly with us in all things, and his desire is always for us to trust in him and obey him.