This Christmas Don’t Give Up, Look UpSýnishorn

How Joseph Trusted God With His Disappointments

Imagine yourself in Joseph’s shoes. You’re preparing to get married and your fiancée—with whom you’ve never been physically intimate—announces she’s pregnant and she claims God is the father.

You can understand the hurt. You can understand the disappointment. Joseph felt his only way out was to leave the relationship. It was certainly one of Joseph’s darkest days.

But guess what? It was also one of his brightest, too.

Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship likely will happen in your darkest days: when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great—and when you then turn to God.

Because God will show up—every single time.

Maybe you’re in a tough situation this Christmas season that seems inescapable.

Do what Joseph did, and change your focus.

God could have brought Jesus into this world without Joseph. God could have arranged a different husband for Mary. But God chose Joseph to be part of the greatest story ever told.

Joseph’s plans changed dramatically when he switched his focus. He saw an angel who revealed God’s plan in a dream. Matthew 1:20 says, “After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’” (NIV).

Instead of focusing on his problem, Joseph considered God’s plan and then did as the angel had told him.

History has never been the same since. Our lives have never been the same.

Like Joseph, you may feel stuck, too. You don’t see a way out. But God won’t abandon you in your disappointment and your sense of hopelessness. Focus on God’s plan. Listen to what he has to say about your situation.

And trust him to follow through.

The Bible promises, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV).

Choose to trust God with your disappointments this Christmas season.

Talk it over

• What surprises you the most about Joseph’s reaction to Mary’s pregnancy?
• What’s the greatest disappointment you’re facing right now?
• Is something keeping you from trusting God with your disappointments today?