“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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b-21, ESV)
The gospel of Matthew recounts Joseph’s dream which convinced him to take Mary as his wife even though she was with child. What do we in our culture think about dreams? Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? If He did, how would you respond? Would you explain it as merely the workings of your restless subconscious mind seeking to resolve some unresolved issue from your past? Would you dismiss it as Mr. Scrooge did of Marley’s ghost as “an undigested bit of beef, or a fragment of underdone potato?” Would you try to rationalize it as mere coincidence? Would you make major decisions based on a dream? Would you invest money or move your family or get married? Many people do and most of them we classify as irrational, superstitious, or strange.
And yet Joseph made a major, life-changing decision, based on a dream, one that would expose him to ridicule and shame. Life with Mary and Jesus would be hard because people would always look at Joseph with scorn and ridicule. Some may have thought him a fool for marrying a woman who others claimed no doubt had committed adultery. Others would probably consider Joseph a good man who sinned, who, in the passion of the moment, got his wife pregnant before their marriage. These things happen. After all, he made it right by marrying her. To a righteous man, however, it would be humiliating for he could not silence the gossipers even by telling the truth.
Joseph knew the consequences of obeying God. He knew he was in for a rough time. Such gossip and slander would not be pleasant for him, but it would be worse for Mary and Jesus. Joseph would have to endure the pain of seeing them ridiculed and scorned. He would have to work to protect them from any abuse. That would be difficult.
But he knew God well enough to know that no matter what the cost to him, abuse, pain, misunderstanding, scorn and heartache, He would enable him to carry out His plan. As God’s willing servant, he would respond as Mary did “Be it unto me according to your word.” Joseph heard the voice of the Lord and he obeyed immediately.
What about you? Do you know the voice of the Lord? Do you know when He is speaking to you? Can you distinguish between his Word and the voices of the world, the flesh, the devil? We don’t need angelic visitations, dreams, or miraculous signs to hear his voice or to tell us His will. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us through the Scripture, God’s Word and through the church, the fellowship of believers. The question is not, “Is the Lord speaking to us?”, but “How will we respond?” If we are truly God’s servants we must respond as Joseph did. We must obey God’s commands no matter what the consequences, or how the world will ridicule us.