Additional Comments about Mary's and Joseph's Situation and Their Trust in God

The issue is... "Trust and Obey."

JOSEPH: Trusting God when opportunities are suddenly lost - when doors are closed - and doing what is right. [Remember Romans 8:28.]

MARY: Trusting God when opportunities are suddenly gained - when doors are opened - and accepting his will. [Remember Matthew 6:33.]

For both Joseph and Mary, things would never be the same.

Obviously, this wouldn't have happened, since both already had an attitude of trust and obedience before this happened. That's why they could respond properly when it did happen.

The time to begin trusting God is now, before the crisis occurs. If you wait until the crisis, it will be much more difficult for you to respond the right way. And if you willfully choose to not trust him now, he might not give you an opportunity later.

About Following their examples...

Their situation was more extreme than ours ever will be. If they could find God trustworthy in their situation, then we have no legitimate reason to not also trust God in our situations.

Dennis Hinks © 2004