Matthew 1:20-21
“But after he 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.”
Things are not always what they seem. Joseph knew that, and it’s something we have to keep in mind if we really want to live by faith and not by sight. Joseph doesn’t get a lot of attention in terms of verses, but he’s one of the most astounding examples of faith found in the Bible.
Be Joseph for a few minutes. His young fiancée was pregnant. Keep in mind that Mary was very young, most likely in her early teens, and that sexual activity outside of marriage was strictly forbidden. Joseph obviously cared for her enough that he didn’t want to humiliate her and wanted to dissolve their engagement quietly, but then he had a dream. In his dream, an angel told him that Mary’s pregnancy wasn’t from forbidden sexual activity, but was from God, that he should marry her and name her son Jesus, because the baby would save the world from sin.
Unbelievable isn’t it? If one of your friends told you a story like this, you’d want to know what kind of drugs he was doing or get him immediate psychiatric help. I’m sure there were people in Joseph’s life that thought he was crazy, but he did what most of us wouldn’t have the courage to do; he believed anyway. The Bible doesn’t tell us about Joseph’s struggle with his decision, but he was most likely hurt, embarrassed and angry. All he could see was a pregnant fiancée, not the mother of our Savior, but he looked beyond what his eyes could see and his mind could understand and believed the message God had sent him.
Living by faith means, many times, living by blind faith. We can’t always see or even understand the plans God has made for us. As I grow closer in my relationship with God, it seems He asks more and more strange and sometimes incredible things of me. Many times I struggle with my decisions, but I try to be like Joseph, believing and following even when it doesn’t make sense.