A Plan to Trust

Can you believe it?! It is almost the end of 2018! There are only so many more days left until this year draws to a close and another begins. I’m a sucker for reflections. I love that Facebook has an “On This Day” option so I see what my last year has been like. A year ago, I was 37 weeks pregnant with our second baby. If you have had any interactions with a 37-week pregnant woman, you know one thing. We tired. As I laid in my warm hospital room, I couldn’t help but wonder what Mary and Joseph were thinking. First riding through the night, on what was not I assume the most comfortable of rides, to give birth to a son in a manager. Could she imagine who she was giving birth to and what her son would become? Could either of them see the role that God put them in?

God’s faithfulness is evident in all of Scripture and specifically with the birth of Jesus. To be honest, in today’s fast paced, me first world, we lose sight of that. Mary was pregnant with the Messiah. Was she confused and scared? I wouldn’t have blamed her. But her response in Luke 1:38 was “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” She said “Okay God, I trust you.” Joseph was even confused. He had planned to quietly divorce her but God revealed his plan to him in Matthew 1:20-25.

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.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Joseph’s response was “Okay God, I trust you.”

How can we fully trust like Mary and Joseph did in the last weeks of 2018 and going into 2019? Maybe this year wasn’t all you wanted it to be. Maybe this season especially is hard and heavy laden with emotions or sorrow. But we can trust in a loving and faithful God. He knows what is best for our lives even when it’s hard to see or hard to live through the next minute. As we look around, think of this. People will always disappoint. The God of the universe who had a plan for a Savior never does.