“WRONG TURN?”

Advent Devotional 1 – Week 1

Matthew 1:18-24 
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about:  His mother Mary was pledged to be 
married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the 
Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to 
expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”   
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).  When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 

Ya gotta love Joseph! He’s such a realistic character. He brings a powerful sense of humanity to the whole Christmas account. Joseph teaches us to obey without regard to personal cost. He finds out his fiancée is pregnant but not by him. He’s a good guy, so instead of taking her to Dr. Phil or exposing her on the Jerry Springer show, he decides to quietly leave her. He chose to respond in a protective, godly way. “An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20 NIV).

So Joseph goes ahead with the marriage. Can you imagine for a moment the potential embarrassing situation Joseph is walking into? She’s pregnant but not by you? How long have you been married? How old is Jesus? I imagine Joseph’s friends and other critics trying to talk him out of it. You’re going to raise someone else’s baby? She’s disgraced you? If she’s been unfaithful already, how do you know she won’t be again? She says she became pregnant by God? Yeah…that’s a likely story! But Joseph is undeterred by the cost to his reputation. God has told him what to do, so he does it.

Do you suppose, even after all his determination, when it came down to it and they hit the tough road to Bethlehem with Mary on a donkey – did he question whether he was on the right road? Was he really following God’s GPS in all this? Were his nay-saying friends and critics right? Had he taken a wrong turn?

There is a very simple, but fundamental difference between Joseph and any potential critics. You see, it’s hard to make a right turn if you are on the wrong road!  Joseph was on the right road and he was plugged in to God’s GPS. He had put himself and his life in a position to really hear from God.

Be sure and put yourself in a position to be able to hear from God today and every day. Pray, listen, read His Word. Then like Joseph, you’ll have confidence that you are on the right road and taking the right turns – all the while strong enough to do that without regard to personal cost. The payoff is out of this world!