But while [Joseph] thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Corinthians 5:7 “7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
COMMENTS: Mary was visited by Gabriel with to announce she would be the mother of the Messiah. She had to know and submit to God’s plan and choice (Luke 2). Her response in praise and worship later welled up when she then went to visit her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Their greeting of each other and response of praise and worship is recorded in Luke 2:46-55.
Joseph was Mary’s betrothed, her fiancée. For him to discover Mary was pregnant and how that came to be would require more faith than he was prepared to demonstrate. But while Mary was with Elizabeth an angel came to visit and prepare Joseph as well.
Mary left to visit Elizabeth with a lot of unanswered questions. We can only imagine those questions and the conversation between Mary and Joseph when she told him. Joseph was a devout man and knew Mary but imagine the flood of doubts that went through his mind as he then pondered and his options and consequences of each one. He knew Mary but could he accept her “unbelievable” story? If what she said were true, how could he save her reputation while saving his own reputation? He needed God’s direction to make the right choice. He too needed divine instruction and guidance. Mary would have honored and followed Joseph’s choice but God knew what Joseph would do based on his own wisdom so instructed a angel to visit and instruct him too.
Joseph was devout but the only option that made sense to him while protecting Mary was to divorce her and put her away to protect her from public stoning – to save her life. Betrothal was more binding than modern engagement is today. Matthew 1:19-25 gives us a window into his reaction and angelic visit that gave him God’s instruction.
Joseph not only needed God’s council, but also needed and got God’s reassurance that he and Mary would be ok in doing so.
A common reaction by all who experience a heavenly visit is fear. Fear because of the power and authority and majesty of the visit. Fear because of the sinless nature of the heavenly being amid our unclean sinful condition. Fear because of uncertainly of the visit. Fear maybe because of uncertainty of reason for the visit and anticipation of what visit will require.
Have you ever been frightened accidently or even deliberately by someone jumping out in front of you especially in the dark. Quick actions or a loud sound often has that same reaction. But fear implies a conscious choice to doubt and be intimidated by an overwhelming force or situation or person. But the response from angelic visitors is commonly “do not be afraid”. Genuine awe and respect and reverent worship is not the fear identified here. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Love and reverence for God is identified as fear that draws us from God out of a sense of self preservation of fear of harm. A sense of danger causes us to run from danger. But the fear of the Lord draws us to Him out of obedience and worship. Fear that includes love and reverence and trust.
By contrast, human fear reveals lack of trust and faith. Every angelic visit required a clear head and focused attention but also an open receptive heart – soul. Human fear clouds our thinking and reasoning abilities. To let human fear overcome us is to keep us from receiving God’s instruction.
Mary and Joseph chose to block their fears and listen with an open heart to the angel’s news and instruction. They obeyed and the impact of their obedience transformed their generation and every generation since and every generation from all times past and yet to come. AMEN? AMEN!
To bring our minds under Christ’s yoke is not to deny our rationality but to submit to His revelation.
John R. W. Stott
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 327 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 69-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US 4 years ago to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 and have just updated December 28, 2019 for republishing. Thus far I have published 530 posts automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me during past 7 years I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: dmcdaniel12@zoominternet.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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