GOD Morning! Matthew 1:18-25 / One Step at a Time

        

"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25 NIV

I did a little research and found that Mary was not shamed because she became pregnant during her betrothal to Joseph.

For her to have been an unwed mother wouldn’t have worked at all. She wouldn’t have been the highly respected woman that she was in that day.

Initially, no one knew except for Joseph that he wasn’t the father.

“In her recent book, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians, she (Lynn Cohick) researches the historical context of marriage and motherhood in the first century A.D., and believes that Mary did not experience shame during her pregnancy. Cohick explains.

Mary was betrothed to Joseph, which was a legally binding arrangement in the Jewish culture. All that awaited the couple was the wedding. If they engaged in sexual intercourse with each other, that was not seen as a violation of any cultural norm. Later rabbinic writings allowed that a future groom who had sexual relations with his bride-to-be at her father's house was not guilty of immoral behavior.

If pregnancy occurred before the wedding, this was not a problem because the parentage of the child was secured. What is shocking is that Mary is pregnant and Joseph knows he is not the father. The problem is not that a betrothed couple had sex, but that presumably Mary had sex with another man—she committed adultery.

This explains Joseph's reaction to divorce her, for that was the legal remedy when faced with infidelity during the betrothal period.” Christianity Today


When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and explained everything, Joseph took Mary as his wife. He believed his dream was from God, and then he did the right thing.

He could have easily walked away.

Sometimes we are simply not willing to move forward in a situation that we don’t understand.

Sometimes we are not willing to trust God’s plan.

Because in our human reasoning, we don’t understand what He’s doing. And we feel the strong urge to withdraw ourselves from the equation.

I would imagine that most young men would find this scenario too bizarre and just move on to someone without the baggage of an unplanned pregnancy. Dream or no dream.

God chose wisely. He knew that Joseph would trust and obey.

Has God chosen you for a difficult task? Are you toying with the idea of walking away? Are you feeling doubt about your ability to handle the assignment He's given you? Does the task seem too far fetched and out there? Too daunting?

In my own life, I have experienced times in which I wanted to walk away from a God ordained task. Many times, I pretended that I misheard God and put it out of my mind. But, oh, the joy that came when I simply obeyed His call.

I am remembering when I was called to the Allied Drive community in Madison, WI, seven years ago. This community had been featured on the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal as one of the most dangerous areas in the city. 

Through a friend, my husband and I were able to obtain a room in which we planned to host community meals. 

I was trembling with fear the first time I arrived.

The streets were crowded with groups of unsavory looking folks milling around. Yelling back and forth. Playing loud music. Even though my husband was by my side, I expected to be shot or robbed at any moment. 

I was scared to death. My friend met me in the room and later she said that she saw the fear in my eyes. 

We began hosting meals once a week. Folks started attending. God started moving. 

God called. I said, "Yes." My life is richer and fuller as a result. I have become friends with this community and watched many folks receive the Holy Spirit, speaking in a heavenly language. I have seen lives transformed under the power of God.

Just last week, a friend thanked us for praying for her the previous week. She was in pain from an old head injury. After we prayed, she immediately started to feel better. She went to her scheduled doctor appointment and was told to stop taking her pain meds and take Tylenol as needed. 

We also prayed for a young lady with anorexia last week. She was down to sixty five pounds. I am believing that God will heal her completely.

Is God calling you into the unknown today? Simply take His hand. He will lead you step by step. You will look back and see His hand in everything. You will know that He has used you, a simple clay pot, for His glory.

“Dear Jesus, help us all. Help us to lift our eyes to You and trust Your perfect plan. Sometimes, the task You’ve given us seems too difficult. We try to look into the future and what we see is overwhelming. And in reality, You are only asking us to continue taking one step at a time. You are not expecting us to figure out how we are going to accomplish the task. You are gently asking us to follow You, step by step. Thank You for clarifying this to us. What a relief to know that we don’t have to figure out the hard stuff. We can leave that to You. We are simply clay pots, to be used for Your glory. Thank You, Jesus. AMEN.”