Not one word...

 
Matthew 1:18 - 2:15

I have never really noticed it before, but Joseph is not recorded as saying one word in Scripture; not one – nothing… 

In a culture that is saturated with words and talking, Joseph has gone down in history and is known worldwide without a single utterance being kept for posterity!  No, 'Complete Works', no 'quotable quotes', not even a 'leadership mantra' – simply silence.  Maybe he is the original 'strong, silent' type!

Joseph’s words are not recorded, yet his life still speaks volumes.

In the last Beacons of Prayer blog I invited you to join me in dwelling in the nature of God from Psalm 36; the Lord’s unfailing love, his faithfulness, righteousness, justice.  He is a place of refuge and an abundant provider.  In Matthew 1:19, Joseph is described as a righteous man so we can immediately see that he is obviously a man after God’s heart.  Interestingly, his righteousness did not result in a rigid keeping of religious rules but rather a closeness and attentiveness to God that led him into uncharted territory.  Yet Joseph was willing to go.  Here again, we see that attentive and responsive obedience which makes space for the coming of Jesus.  God told him in a dream to take Mary home as his wife, so Joseph did.  Later God told Joseph to take his family to Egypt to seek safety, so he did.

We may not be the sort of people who will have our words recorded for posterity but, like Joseph, we can be part of that voiceless majority that quietly and obediently makes room for Jesus each and every day in thousands and thousands of willing responses to the Lord’s leading.  In these days running up to Christmas, I am going to be praying that I may have more of Joseph’s responsive obedience in my own life so that I may make room for his coming and coming again.