Keep Walking

Matthew 1
18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was
pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to
be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a
righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind
to divorce her quietly. 20But after he had considered this...

Can you even imagine? You've been with this person for a long time. You think you know them pretty well. You have big plans of getting married, having children and spending your life hand in hand, and then she says, "We need to talk...I'm pregnant. It's the Lord's baby." Verse 20 says, "But after he considered this." Are those some loaded words or what? Have you ever traveled the road of consideration? You can bet that Joseph considered Mary's honesty, the other men in Mary's life, the current status of their relationship, their last argument, what the guys are going to say, what his parents will think, how it will affect his business, would God do something like this, what did the prophets say, what will our rabbi say? At some point in his considering he decided to believe and walk it out one step at a time. An enormous calling with all kinds of questions, conflict and tension, but it was God's call on their lives and they chose to obey. Their obedience in the storm of so many unanswered questions led to the salvation of the world. I'm thankful for their courage to walk the road that God put before them even if it contained the stares of shame and judgment and the wrath of an insecure King determined to kill their baby. How many times could they have said or at least thought, "God...what are doing?" They kept walking and believing and that's we have to do.