"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in
this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came
together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband
Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce
her quietly. But as he considered these
things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
"Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that
which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sins." Matt 1:18-21 ESV
The story
sounds more like an episode of Jerry Springer than
the Bible. Joseph's fiancé had became
pregnant with someone else’s child, and she claimed the father was God. How could Joseph believe that? It was
impossible, ridiculous, and unacceptable!
Matthew is
asking us to believe it, too--that a virgin could miraculously conceive a holy
baby. Joseph eventually accepted this
miracle--but it wasn’t easy. His acceptance came after a great deal of
struggle.
But Joseph
eventually believed it because he heard from God. God appeared in a dream and
told him that this child was by the Holy Spirit.
Our dreams
are generally just expressions of our unconscious minds, messages from
ourselves to ourselves revealing our unexpressed thoughts and feelings in
symbolic language. But God can also speak in our dreams, as can Satan. We should not believe every dream, but we
should weigh them and examine them in the morning to see what message they are
conveying.
When God
speaks in a dream, He is usually telling us what we already know deep down
inside of us. Mary was a girl who loved God deeply, and had never lied to
Joseph. The truthfulness of her life made it possible for him to believe that
God was speaking in his dream. Joseph
was a godly man, too. He believed and trusted that God was still doing
miracles.
To hear
God we must keep an open mind. God is not confined to the limits of our
imagination or reason. His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our thoughts.
Ponder
your own dreams and listen. Are you
trying to tell yourself something. Is God speaking to you in your dreams? Sometimes, God is speaking to us, and what
He often gives is an invitation to a miracle.
God may
not send a dream, but He will make His voice known. We don't have to get all the details right,
but God will make what we need to know clear to us. In every unacceptable situation, God will
send some way for us to believe. Then
one day, (and that day may not be in
this world) God will make is way crystal
clear.
"God help me to accept the unacceptable in faith
and confidence that Your hand is in it.
Let me hear the voice of Your Spirit, telling me to trust and to
believe. In Jesus' name, amen."
