I wonder how many times has God spoken to me and asked me to do something and I didn’t listen and missed out on a great opportunity. Or how many times has God spoken to me and I did listen, and things turned out better than I could have imagined. People say, “God has a plan for you”, which is true because Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you”
Declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans for hope and a future.” However, sometimes it can be hard to remember that He has a plan when I can’t see that plan laid out in front of me.

We all know Jesus and we most likely all know Mary, Jesus’ mother, who found favor in God’s eyes so she was chosen to carry and deliver Jesus. But, how much do we know about Joseph? Joseph was faithful to the law and while being engaged to Mary but knowing she was pregnant, he wanted to quietly divorce her. But, God had a different plan.

“An angel 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” Matthew 1:20

Now, Joseph could have ignored the angel and proceeded to go through with divorcing her. Thank goodness he didn’t though because who knows how different life would be for us now if he did. Instead, Joseph trusted God’s plan. “When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” Matthew 1:24. How many times do we ignore God because we think our plan is easier or better?

Joseph took Mary home, Jesus was born, and they all lived happily ever after... Not quite. The angel appeared to Joseph again and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and escape tonEgypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him” Matthew 2:13. Wow, how terrifying. Having to pack up everything you own and move your family miles away because a king wants to kill your newborn baby?! It sounds insane really. At that moment, Joseph could have brushed the angel off, or decided, okay I will move my family, but we will go somewhere else because Egypt has too much sand. Instead, this is what Joseph did. “So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt” Matthew 2:14. Not only did Joseph obey what the angel told him, but in taking his family to Egypt, he fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son”. (Matthew 1:15) How many of us respond to God’s request with that kind of urgency? I am sure most of us haven't been put in the situation where someone is trying to kill our baby, but I know there have been times when God has given us requests that require a quick response, just like Joseph.

“After Herod died an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.” Matthew 2:19

That was likely a huge relief knowing the person wanting to kill his son was dead, and they no longer had to worry. Maybe Joseph was thinking, “Why can’t we stay here in Egypt though, we have made a life for us here and we have friends here. Do we really have to move and start over once more?” But he didn’t think that, he listened to the angel. “So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. But having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went to live in a town called Nazareth.” (Matthew 2:22) By doing so, another prophecy was fulfilled when it was said, “He would be called a Nazarene”.

If Joseph did not listen to the angel and decided to do his own thing, life as we know it would be so different. Who knows if Herod would have found Jesus, or if they stayed in Egypt and what the Lord had said didn’t happen. But thankfully, Joseph was loyal and trusted God and his plan, even if it was scary and hard and required a lot of traveling with a child. I think about my life and how many times God has spoken to me and has called me to act, but I didn’t do it with urgency, or I thought my plan was better because it was less work. I want to be more like Joseph and trust God’s plan, no matter what it may be because in the end, God’s plan is better than anything we could imagine.

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