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 ". Mica...

Hosea 5:4 : "Their deeds do not permit them        to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart;        they do not acknowledge the LORD. How awful!!!  Deeds ruling lives to the extent that we can't return to God. This doesn't imply that God won't let them return, but that they won't. I can't imagine being tied to my sins so completely that I couldn't return to God. It is possible to have such as sinful nature that you don't even recognize you're sinful. I know I was like that and probably continue to be. The more I know of God's nature, the more I know about how far I am from where He wants me to be. My actions, thoughts, and words do not betray God's nature, but rather who I am, a sinful, sin-filled person. I pray for forgiveness then learn more about what I need to ask forgiveness for.  The spirit of prostitution visits in my heart sometimes.  I put other things in front of God....

I just love finding Jesus in the Old Testament.  He's there from the beginning ( Genesis 1 :26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." ) and interspersed throughout the rest of the Old Testament. Today, I found Him in Hosea 6 .  Hosea 6:2 says   After two days he will revive us;        on the third day he will restore us,        that we may live in his presence. When the Lord gave these words to Hosea, I doubt that he had any idea what he was saying.  He was only doing as he was told, repeating the words that the Lord told him to say. But as we read it, we can see Jesus.  "On the third day" is when Jesus was raised and offered us forgiveness and salvation. That's when we were revived.  That is when we were restored.  That is when we were offered the opportunity to live in his presence. I have a study Bible that says that Hosea became a prophet in 753 BC. He...