Have you ever made your own plan only to have God completely change it? Have you followed God’s plan, even when it didn’t seem to make sense to you? How did it turn out? Have you decided not to follow God’s plan? How did that turn out?
We like to make our plans. We have short term/daily plans and we make long term plans. Sometimes, I think God gets a good chuckle when he sees our plans. He sits back and thinks, “Let me show you my plans for you and see what you think of them.”
Joseph had his plan when he found out Mary was pregnant. Evidently, Mary had not told Joseph what Gabriel had told her or he didn’t believe her. I mean, who would? The Holy Spirit had not come upon anyone for hundreds of years and had never caused someone to become pregnant.
Now Joseph likely knew of the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Elkanah and Hannah, and the wife of Manoah who was Samson’s mother, all of whom were barren but blessed by God to have children. Although Joseph could believe God had blessed them to have children, it would still have been hard to believe Mary’s story.
Would we have believed Mary’s story? Do we believe those hard to believe stories we hear today? God continues to work in this world. He can and does still perform miracles. We may find them hard to believe, but just like Joseph, we should believe that God is at work.
I pray we all look for God working in this world. I pray we believe he still performs miracles among us. I pray each one of us will change our plans to match God’s plans for our lives. Look for God working. God still performs miracles. Follow God’s plan.
Matthew 1:24-25: When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
Marty Pressey 