Friday, December 2, 2011

Can God mess with your plans? A Christmas Story!

The answer to that question is of course, yes! Scripture tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways. Our view of life and our future, is often limited by what we perceive as the best. Some times are best is a very limited view of who God wants us to become and who God really is.

To clarify my point let’s look at the life of Joseph. In Matthew chapter 1 verse 19 we get some very good information about Joseph.

“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.”

From this one verse we can tell a lot about Joseph. He was just. This means he was a man who loved the law of God, in a good way. He loved and served God and wanted to be pleasing to Him. Longing to do what was right.

We also see that he did not want to embarrass Mary. He really loved her. He had the right to publically humiliate her and to have her stoned to death. Instead he chose to quietly and secretly have her sent somewhere to have the baby so no one would know. This meant he was willing to cover her expenses to travel and stay away until the baby was born.

Joseph was a carpenter, in a small town, most likely made up of people with whom he was related. He was not a wealthy man. He was a man who loved much. I am sure after many years of waiting, Mary was finally old enough for marriage. He had dreamed and planned for this day for a large portion of his life.

Can you imagine for a moment how he would have felt? His plan was a simple one. Get married, have children, build a nice carpentry business that his sons could take over. God interrupted those plans. God knew Joseph could handle the detour in his life. It seemed for the time that his life was falling apart, that his plans were coming to nothing.

Do you ever feel that way? You may be in that place right now. This is one of the reasons it is so important to know God’s word. One of His many promises to us is that if we trust and seek Him, He will fulfill the desires of our hearts, Psalm 37:4,5. They may not always be fulfilled in the way we expect but are always filled God’s way.

Joseph thought he was just going to be a normal guy. God saw a man he could trust with His Son. Joseph became the adoptive Father of Jesus, the son of the living God. Joseph did not have to worry about carrying for Mary. God took care of her. At the cross, Jesus placed Mary in John’s care.

Whenever God messes with our plans, it always turns out better than our plan. He created us each for a purpose. If we trust Him, follow Him and love Him he will fulfill a better plan that what we can imagine. Expect Him to do great things with and through you! Don’t allow messed up plans to be a sign that God is not with you, for you, or using you. They may be the very fulfillment of your hearts desire.

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