An Obedience

Luke 2:1–7 (NIV)

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

CONSIDER THIS

Sometimes light moves into the darkness so gradually, so quietly, you almost don’t notice. One beam of light quietly edges in. Then another. And another. Until light has dawned over itself with ease, ever so gently. Light’s entrance into the world is here, but without announcement, without splendor, but with its enduring brightness nonetheless.

With obedience and the faithfulness of walking in the right direction, Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary had no sense of how the birth of the Messiah through them would come about; they were walking blindly through the everyday details and logistics of bearing the Christ child into the world. But the light entered in nonetheless. Mary and Joseph had heard the life-altering, world-shaking news that the long-awaited Messiah was coming through them. They heard that their son would be the world’s Savior. And they rejoiced in God’s glory that would be revealed in it. Joseph had been given simple direction to join Mary in covenant and in the invitation to divine mission. But they were walking through the shadows of how, exactly, such goodness and salvation would unfold.

It’s a fascinating reality that what is dark to us is not dark to him. For, “even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139:12). What was uncertain to Mary and Joseph, where they would stay, how their Christ child would come into the world, what their next steps would be were hidden in shadowed uncertainty, but was brilliantly clear in the divine mission. God was enacting the plan for the salvation of creation, through the incarnation, in the most unexpected way. It’s unexpected to us but not to him. And though we want the divine will to direct our every step, most of the time, the path is clear, but the steps aren’t. God, in his goodness, has illuminated the direction but not the details. 

We sometimes get stuck in the cycle of uncertainty and anxiety, paralyzed to action because we don’t know which steps to take. We sometimes believe that walking in God’s will means the predetermination of every step. And when our flashing neon sign in the sky, through careful discernment, points us in a direction, we expect him to add the turn-by-turn directions to the process.

Y’all, Mary and Joseph brought the Messiah into the world; they protected him, guided him, and raised him without an instruction manual on the Messiah. And somehow, they were successful in finding their way into prophecy and promise fulfilled. Their action, driven by their faithful choosing and God’s grace and guidance in redeeming the world, met for the Messiah’s birth.

Joseph and Mary illuminated the details of their way, not with divine direction in every step, but by the faithful obedience of righteous living. They obeyed Roman law. They discerned how to honor the law of the Lord. They acted responsibly toward their covenant to one another and God. They pursued God through the daily diligence of a life of worshipful obedience and dedication to the law given through the Word. They simply acted in the direction of everyday, faithful obedience to the traditions of worship and the law of the Lord. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, fulfilling an age-old prophecy. But Joseph, he fulfilled prophecy not through divine wisdom in where to lead Mary, but because he was obedient to the command for an empire’s census.

When God is unfolding his will, inviting us to join him in his work, when he points us in the direction and beckons us on in his story of redemption with delight, but we have to figure out the day-to-day choices and tasks to align with that direction, usually, the best steps, are the simple ones; choices that honor a life of obedience in the daily direction of the Word and living worship. 

How did Mary and Joseph play their part in bearing the light of Christ in the world? They attended to worship. They obeyed the law. They lived responsibly. They went on to raise their child in the rhythms of life in religious community and knowledge of the Word. They provided for their family. They made the best decisions before them. And each little act of obedience illuminated the way forward like the running aisle lights in a dark theater. Our daily diligence in the faithful things of life in Christ, doing the next right thing, is the way forward in God’s bigger plan of purpose. One little act is one little light. Each act of faithfulness and obedience in every day builds light upon light until we find our way into its full brilliance. God illuminates the path, we discover each step with the rhythms of obedience, all of it leading to him.

THE PRAYER

Almighty God, we give you thanks for your great faithfulness, that you know the way to where you are going, and that your kindness enters in to remind us of that at every turn. We rejoice in the privilege of joining you in the story of the world’s redemption and ours. As we join you in the glory of shining the light of Christ into the world, and all the goodness that has entered in, will you help us walk the daily road of faithfulness? When we freeze under the uncertainty of our direction, remind us that the call to daily righteousness is the direction. And as your light enters in this Christmas, so gently, so sweetly, help us to catch a glimpse of its coming glory too. In Jesus’s name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

Do you sometimes get paralyzed in the uncertainty of what to do? Do you so desire to walk in the way God is leading but feel overwhelmed at how to get there? Where might you shift your attention from the bigger picture, the long gaze of glory, to the details of living more faithfully every day? Do you sometimes think that your daily obedience to the Word, worship, and Christ-like character are less important than the big things God invites you to do? Because one leads to the other. Mary and Joseph are proof of that. 

For the Awakening,
Sarah Wanck

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