“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to destroy Him.” And he rose and took the Child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.” (Matthew 2:13-15a ESV)
It surprises me how much trust God put in Joseph. When Jesus’ life is threatened, God doesn’t give king Herod a heart attack, or whisk Jesus to safety in a whirlwind. Instead, He speaks to Jesus’ earthly father Joseph. He trusts him with the safety of the Son of God Himself.
And Joseph comes through. As a believer, Joseph does what God tells him. As a father, Joseph does everything in his power to keep his little family safe. He doesn’t expect praise for it. He just does it.
That’s true for us as well. We all have responsibilities God has given us—in our families, in our neighborhoods or churches, at work, at school. What we do may look tiny, ordinary—what any decent person would do. But God is using it, even when we can’t imagine how.
This isn’t surprising, is it? For a God who came down from heaven to earth to become a Man, a carpenter, a traveling teacher, and healer? I am certain no bad tables ever came out of that workshop in Nazareth. What Jesus did, He did with all His love and obedience—whether it was healing the sick or saving the people of the world through His death and resurrection. And now He trusts us with His work in the world.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, show me what You want me to do and help me to do it well with Your Spirit’s help. Amen.
Advent Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights reserved
Published January 3, 2022
Reflection Questions:
* Name one responsibility God has trusted you with.
* Do you ever feel like your work doesn’t matter?
* What is a small responsibility that someone else carried out faithfully that made a huge difference to you?
(To view the entire “Advent Devotions” mini-series, please click here.)
