What you may think is calamity might just be God at work …

Our knowledge of our own lives is limited to the right now.

This minute.

We don’t accurately know anything beyond what we’re experiencing right now, and we often misinterpret that!

Because of our great limitations, it is common for us to not respond well to events in life as they unfold. What we consider to be a horrendous calamity sometimes is nothing less than God at work, unfolding a magnificent plan that includes our lives in a big way.

Such was the case for Joseph that very first Christmas.

The girl he was engaged to was pregnant, and he wasn’t the father. He was heartbroken over such obvious betrayal. Yet he loved her so much he didn’t want to disgrace her publicly, and as he pondered this terrible calamity of life, he was interrupted by an angel who would reveal that his trouble was really God unfolding an astounding plan for all humanity in which Joseph would play an important role …

“As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” Matthew 1:20-21.

Joseph’s response to this heavenly message is a lesson for us in how to respond to life’s “calamities” — listen to God, trust Him completely, and obey Him fully.

“When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus,” Matthew 1:24-25.

How do you respond to the unfolding of life?

Scotty