Day 20: Joseph’s choices
Read Matthew 1:18-24
Matthew 1:19-20 - And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put
her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these
things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph,
son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’
Joseph was a righteous man who suddenly was faced with a problem he did not
know how to solve. The law of the land stated he was completely justified in
having Mary killed when he discovered she was pregnant. He knew he was not the
father of the baby, so to him this only meant that she had been unfaithful to
him.
But Joseph was a righteous man, and he must have loved Mary already because he
did not want to kill her or even have her shamed before all the people of the
town. As he was thinking about how else he could take care of his problem, he fell
asleep. The Angel Gabriel came to visit him in his dream and told him who this
baby really was – the promised Messiah. He even gave Joseph the assignment of
naming this baby. The name “Jesus” is the same name as “Joshua” in the Old
Testament, and “Joshua” means “savior.”
We continue with Joseph in our next lesson.
*How have you been willing to listen to God for a different way of working
through a difficult situation?