Choosing Faith

Author: Joseph

Date: October 20, 2019

Mary was pregnant with a child conceived by the Holy Spirit and at the same time she was betrothed to Joseph. She knew what was happening, having been told by an angel of the Lord, but Joseph did not yet (Luke 1:26-38). Joseph, therefore, had a difficult decision to consider.

We never know if Mary had told Joseph about the angel and the message given to her. If she had, Joseph was only betrothed to her, not married to her, and so if he tried to claim the child as his own it would still have been a lie and also brought wrongful shame upon him and his family since the betrothal would seem to have not been honored due to the pre-marital conception of a child. If he did not claim the child and still remained betrothed to Mary, then she would appear to have a child conceived from adultery and Mary would be stoned to death – the consequence for adultery (Leviticus 20:10).

Joseph was a righteous man and he did not want to disgrace Mary, so he decided it would work best for both of them if he secretly divorced her (being betrothed was considered being in marriage). Joseph would keep away the appearance of committing sexual sin and wrongfully breaking the betrothal and Mary would have the chance to hide away, no longer expected to marry. He decided this would work best to save her life and to keep from the appearance of having committed sin, for either her or for him.

As Joseph was considering all these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel spoke to him and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, explaining that the child was of the Holy Spirit and what His purpose was in being born.

The next morning Joseph took Mary as his wife and knowing the plan that God had for her and the child.

"...Joseph immediately chose not to fear."

The angel of the Lord gave his message to Joseph and Joseph immediately chose not to fear. As soon as Joseph realized God’s involvement and His plan, fear was swept away and he had the courage to take Mary as his wife even though he knew by doing so he would encounter many difficulties and questions. The consequences didn’t matter, because God was the One who was instructing him to marry Mary, and this was enough for Joseph to have the courage he needed.

Even after hearing from the angel of the Lord, it would have still been possible for Joseph to doubt the message given to him if he chose to focus on the seeming impossibility of such a miraculous thing happening to Mary. If Joseph tried to make sense of a child being conceived in her although she was a virgin, it may have caused him to doubt her testimony or even the message from the angel. Even to this day, we still cannot fully explain the details of this holy conception (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9).

Instead, Joseph chose to believe in the message from God instead of trying to figure out all the details and fill himself with doubt and fear. The only thing that Joseph needed to know is that God was the One initiating all these things that were happening and His will was being done. Anything God left unknown was only for God to understand.

How would you have reacted if you were Joseph? Would you have considered the angel’s message “only a dream”? When God works in miraculous ways does your faith increase or are you left doubting His works because you can’t fully understand what was done?

Have faith like Joseph and believe in God, not based on whether you understand or not, but based on your trust in Him.

Matthew 1:18-25