Week 2 – Week of Peace
Daily Reading
Read Psalm 89:1-4. I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. While we all may not be the best at singing, we can all praise the Lord with our mouths all day long so that our children will see and hear us growing in faith. Today, put on Christmas music that reinforces Christ’s story. I’m not talking Mojo Nixon right now. Try Silent Night or O Holy Night. You get the point. Start singing along!
Joseph and Mary
Today let’s consider the peace which must have descended separately upon the engaged couple. Try to imagine being Mary, happily getting ready for her wedding which she likely prayed would be blessed mightily by God. And Joseph, a little older than Mary, established in the community, taking a young bride who by all accounts had not been with a man.
Without warning, before your wedding an angel appears and upends your “plans.” Such faith they each had to honor what God wanted more than what their communities must have considered “proper.”
We read in Luke 1:26-30: “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
If you’re honest, isn’t that a secret prayer of yours? That you will have found favor with God? My daily prayer certainly is that I want to please God with my actions and words. I fear disappointing Him and want to be used like Mary to point others to Christ! And that’s exactly what Mary did! She believed in the Angel’s words, firmly believing all that she must have been taught about the coming Messiah.
Luke 1:38. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Joseph
God also sent an angel to Joseph, husband-to-be to sweet, faithful Mary. In Matthew 1:18-24, we read of Joseph’s great faith. Can you see yourself as being as accepting as Joseph, learning of the pregnancy of your fiance, knowing you didn’t get her pregnant and trusting enough in an angel’s words that Mary is without fault. That her pregnancy will alter history forever and that you get to be a part in the story of Jesus?
What a marriage Mary and Joseph must have shared! Such faithful people. Obviously God knew Jesus would need them to begin His journey as our Saviour!
Consider your faith. Are you as secure in your faith as Joseph and Mary? What might you do today to strengthen your faith?
