How would you feel if your son came home from seeing his betrothed and told you she just informed him she was pregnant, but she hadn’t been unfaithful…the baby was God’s? It must have sounded bizarre to Joseph and his family too.
Joseph was a righteous man. Mary was his betrothed. He loved her and did not want to disgrace her in public. After wrestling with the news, he planned to divorce her quietly. It is said “The strength of what we believe is measured by how much we are willing to suffer for those beliefs.” Joseph would walk out his belief in Mary and God before everyone and endure whatever suffering came as a result.
God planned for his Son to be born to a couple, not a single mother. He sent an angel to visit Joseph in a dream to confirm all Mary had told him [Matthew 1:18-25]. Joseph’s response was similar to his bride’s. He responded immediately with obedience.
How many of us hear something from God through our prayers, others or by reading the Word and decide to “pray about it” or think on it before we act? I’m as guilty as the next person. However, every time I put off immediate obedience the Lord takes me back to the days when my children were preschoolers and I would say to them “Slow obedience is still disobedience.” Don’t you just love it when the Lord uses your own words to correct you?
What is God calling you to do today? What action have you taken? Joseph was a man who did what God commanded immediately. We could all learn from him.