Volume 27, No. 49
December 22, 2002
God Knows
Like young men everywhere, Joseph had plans. With his engagement set, it
must’ve seemed like the future was unfolding the way it was supposed to. Then
he got the devastating news.
“While she was still a virgin, Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.”
(Matthew 1:18) The words are so matter-of-fact. But the fact of the matter
was, God hadn’t let Joseph in on the secret.
So “being a just man, he decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to
disgrace her publicly.” No revenge or recriminations. He doesn’t seize the
chance to save his reputation by sullying hers. Still the nagging cloud of hurt
and humiliation must’ve been hard to take as he endured the knowing smirks and
furtive whispers that would’ve followed him everywhere.
It seems Joseph was grappling with what to do about Mary while tossing
restlessly on his bed one night. “As he considered this, he fell asleep.” (v.
21). That’s when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told
Joseph to go ahead and take Mary as his wife because her baby was conceived by
God himself and would “save his people from their sins.”
This Christmas, many of us are wrestling with uncertainty in the grey, gloomy
hours of doubt and disappointment that almost always come before rest and
revelation. Perhaps your carefully-laid plans have been disrupted by disease,
death, debt or divorce, leaving you anxious and unsure. You thought you knew
what God wanted, only to discover you had it wrong. Or maybe your hopes and
dreams really were God’s will, but they’ve been irretrievably shattered by the
sheer malice of Satan, or seemingly random events, or the costly consequences of
the free will exercised by others who have the right to do wrong because God
refuses to turn us into a bunch of robots. What now?
Trust him. What, now? Yes, now. Trust God so you’ll get the message when He
finally acts in your situation, as He inevitably will when the time is right,
just as He did in Joseph’s life. After all, Christmas is about hope. It’s
about watching God move in mystifying but unmistakable and miraculous ways to
accomplish things we can’t even imagine. It’s about letting go of our plans and
our past, which is the only way to be free of our pain and our paralysis.
Resist the temptation to write the ending to your own story in the mistaken
assumption you know exactly how things will play out. Ours is a God of the
unexpected who waves aside the tiny limitations we place upon him. He can bless
any mess and take us in directions we can’t even imagine to find blessings we
never dreamed possible.
That begins when adversity and uncertainty point us in a powerful way to
what’s most important: a steadfast Father who often gets shuffled aside when we
don’t feel we need him, the people who go above and beyond to support us
whatever our physical or emotional condition, and the elemental understanding
that anything we substitute for God can be lost.
Out of loss and yearning comes growth and learning, if we’ll pay the price.
Joseph responded to what God wanted to do in his life and served without
recognition or immediate reward. Even after the angel’s announcement, most
people disdained or pitied him as the token father of a bastard child born to
the woman who betrayed him. Yet, he rose above the reproach. Entrusted with the
most precious gift God ever gave anyone, Joseph helped mould the character of
Christ himself. Once he understood what God wanted, his whole life took on new
meaning and significance. May it be so with you.
The story of Joseph teaches us that things aren’t always what they seem;
that God is at work in situations that appear hopeless. When despair and
uncertainty arise, you can say, “God knows what’s next!”, or you can say, “ God
knows what’s next!” As Joseph learned, everything depends on where you put the
emphasis.
By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the
Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will
in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe, contact
sgamble@bfree.on.ca