20 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. 21 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.”
Mary is pregnant and Joseph knows the baby isn’t his. He has to decide if he is going to keep Mary or divorce her. God intervenes in his decision. Because of the extraordinary nature of this birth, the Lord speaks to Joseph, just as He spoke to Mary. We don’t know exactly what Joseph understood from the message given in this dream. We do know that he married Mary. He understood that her pregnancy was a God-kind of event. But he also understood that his life would be a God-kind of life. Jesus’ mission was to save God’s people from their sins. This was no small task. It was a God-sized task. You could also view God’s will for Joseph as a restriction on his free will. Maybe he didn’t want to have a life filled with questions about his son. Maybe he didn’t want to raise a son that wasn’t his. Maybe he wanted to name this son Joe Jr. Maybe he didn’t want to have a son who would outshine him. When we do God’s will it means we must give up our will. When I help my wife with a project around the house it means I give up what I wanted to do for that time period. I chose to do her will. Now, I can either kick and scream while I am doing it, or chose to make her will my will. I don’t like kicking and screaming. All that energy wasted. Joseph chose to do God’s will in the matter. It meant that he had to give up his will in the process. His choices were restricted and that wasn’t fair. Whose will are you choosing to follow?
The Arnold Journey 