December 19, 2024 Devo

Once Joseph heard from God, he was “all in.” The trip to Bethlehem alone shows us that. He didn’t need Mary to go. He could have made the trip much more easily without her than with her. Most scholars feel that it probably took them up to two weeks or more to travel by foot and donkey to get to Bethlehem from Nazareth. Maybe longer. Anyone who has traveled with a pregnant woman knows how often they have to go to the bathroom. Also, just the discomfort of riding would mean she would need frequent stops and ample rest. But he took her with him anyway. Why?
One reason may have been just to get her away from the gossiping crowds at home. By now Mary was surely showing so anyone who wasn’t in the know would certainly be finding out soon enough. Joseph may have just had enough of the looks and whispers that Mary was having to contend with and taking her with him gave her a break from all of that.
Another reason he took her may have just been the sense of responsibility he felt for her. Joseph loved Mary. That much was clear in the way that he wasn’t willing to publicly shame her. When the angel told Joseph to take Mary as his wife, that was all he needed. He wasn’t going to leave her behind where he couldn’t watch over her, protect her, or care for her. And since she was getting close to the time of delivery, he wasn’t going to leave her and allow her to have the baby without him. Jesus was as much his responsibility as hers, so they traveled together.
Think about it. A man who is engaged and not married to the woman he’s traveling with who is carrying a child. Talk about opening yourself up to looks, gestures, and ridicule. But Joseph didn’t care. God said to stay with her. Joseph took that seriously.
Let this model challenge you today. How’s your follow-through for God? My experience has been that a lot of people SAY, “I’m in,” but not many actually go the distance. When things get hard, we quit. When the going gets tough, we stop. When criticism comes or we run into difficult people along the way, we take our hurt feelings and head home. Joseph showed us that the path to following the will of God doesn’t necessarily require us to have special gifts or superior intelligence. But it does require something many people just don’t seem to possess—Commitment. How’s YOURS? That’s God’s Word for you today.