Am I ready? (Part II)

Am I ready for Christmas? Amidst all the hustle and bustle and business, is my heart ready? Are my attitudes right?

Our focus passage was in the first chapter of Matthew. Be sure to re-read the verses each day as we study, ok? Thanks!

We are focused on Joseph in these verses (18-25). 

The first attitude that Joseph teaches us is that he was willing to accept God's will, whatever it might be. Joseph was open, ready, and willing to accept God's leading in his life.

Ouch.

Did we have to start off with what seems to be one of the hardest things for us as believers to learn?

Let's dig in . . . . 

. . . . and let's put ourselves into Joseph's dusty sandals. Joseph was a fine carpenter. He was probably well known in the village for his craftsmanship. He thought he had his life pretty well planned out; he had his business and he'd prepared a home, because he was pledged to be married. That means that all of the necessary arrangements had been made, and the wedding would take place soon.

We can be pretty sure that he was looking forward to his life in Nazareth with his new bride and his carpentry business. But then Mary came to him and said, "Joseph, I'm going to have a baby."

Don't you know that must have hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks? It was probably hard to breathe. He thought that Mary loved him just as much as he loved her. But now, it seemed she had been unfaithful to him. He knew that the child she was bearing was not his -- so the only conclusion he could come to was that she'd broken her vows to him. She had been unfaithful. According to the law, Mary should be stoned to death. But Joseph couldn't stand that thought, so he decided to divorce her quietly. 

He might have been thinking along those lines as he fell into an exhausted sleep, and then an angel came to him in his dream. In effect, the angel told Joseph to trust God -- that Joseph might not understand what was happening, or why, but that he should trust and everything would be ok. Sorry for the paraphrase of Matthew, but have we been in this situation before? Have we been in prayer or been counseled by a friend, and we hear "trust God"? I hear heads nodding. I know I have heard that, too.

Joseph was a man of faith, and sometimes it's hard to live in faith. Maybe if God always did what we expect, it wouldn't be so hard. But sometimes He does the opposite of what we expect. Even though Joseph must have had a long list of questions, he trusted God. He believed that God's will was the best.

Don't we find ourselves in Joseph's position? Christmas carols are about peace - but our world is full of conflict. We read Christmas cards that talk about joy, but there is an awful lot of sadness this time of year. We know that Christmas happened because of love -- but there's so much hatred in our world. 

We cry out to God just like Joseph may have done. "God, how can this be happening?" But just as Joseph did, we hear a still small voice saying, "Trust Me."

God's ways are not always our ways, and His thoughts are higher than ours.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9, NASB)

We may not understand everything He is doing. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5, NIV)

But we don't have to understand. We just have to hear that voice and trust Him to work things out.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NIV)

Christmas happened because Joseph listened and trusted God. We need to learn to trust Him, too. We need to have an attitude of accepting God's will to be ready for Christmas.