Waiting: Day 24

Tuesday December 23, 2025

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a Son. And he called His name Jesus.

Matthew 1:24,25, English Standard Version

Well, there you go. Joseph wakes up and does what he’s commanded to do. Matthew is just so matter of fact about it, as if instant obedience is the most natural and obvious thing in the world.

Reading this 2000 years after Joseph lived it, I can puff out my chest and boldly proclaim that I’d have been “just like Joseph.” Yeah, right. I know me, and I can promise you that I’d have spent days trying to figure out if my dream was really a message from God, or did my supper not agree with me that night. I’d have demanded more angelic chats and would have wanted to consult an attorney or two before I signed on the dotted line.

I’d have pestered every preacher I knew to see what they thought about God speaking through dreams. And I’ll bet I’d have even hired a private investigator to follow poor Mary around, just to make sure she wasn’t up to some sort of hanky-panky.

Not Joseph-He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. It makes me think of the old hymn “Trust and Obey.” That’s Joseph. Me? I’m “Question and Contemplate.” Joseph is the picture of obedience. He marries Mary, names the baby Jesus, and then raises Him like his own.

The Bible gives us very few glimpses of Joseph. But I feel like sometimes it doesn’t take much to reveal a person’s true character. Here, in just a couple of sentences, you see who Joseph really is. He’s a man of faith and conviction, a man who respects the authority of God and who submits to the Lord’s will, whether it’s easy or not. That’s the kind of guy I want to be.