Joseph, Jesus' earthly dad

Do you know that Joseph didn't say anything? Look at the Biblical account. It's in the first chapter of Matthew and in Luke 1 and 2. He doesn't say anything. An angel appears to him and says something like "go ahead and marry Mary and raise God's child". So Joseph does.

After the visit from the wise men, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and says "go to Egypt and take Mary and Jesus with you".... and Joseph does. He never protests. He never asks for an explanation. He just obeys. He does as instructed by an angel - in a dream.

There are two lessons I take from this (after a Bible Study lesson this week). One is that Joseph must have known scripture and prophesy. Many of the Old Testament Prophets predicted the coming messiah. Isaiah 9:6 tells of a baby being born who will be Prince of Peace. Isaiah 7:14 says the baby will be born of a virgin. Hosea begins chapter 1 with the passage "out of Egypt I called my son". Micah tells that this child will come from Joseph's tribe, Judah. If Joseph hadn't known scripture, would he have obeyed? Or would he have hesitated and asked questions and maybe talked himself out of listening to the angel?

Lesson two is this: don't hesitate when God calls you to do something. Oftentimes, I THINK something that could be of God but I hesitate. I question. I wonder. I talk myself right out of whatever it is. One of the comments made during our Bible study was that we get closer to God, depend more on Him and show we trust Him when we get out of our comfort zone. Mostly that's when I hesitate, when something is bound to make me feel uncomfortable. But that is exactly when I need to depend on God the most. I just need to go and do.

Another thought that occurred to me as I was thinking of this post was the Old Testament Joseph, who saved his people from famine. Genesis tells us that Joseph was the favorite. Was the NT Joseph God's favorite, that He would choose him to be the earthly father to Jesus?

Joseph obeyed. That is one of the lessons that we get repeatedly from the Bible. Obedience. Joseph had integrity. That is another of the Bible lessons. I better try to get rid of the hesitation that causes me to be disobedient, even when I don't know it.

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