“How could it be? This baby in my arms, sleeping now so peacefully, 'The Son of God,' the angel said. How could it be? Father, show me where I fit into this plan of Yours. How can a man be father to the Son of God? Lord, for all my life I’ve been a simple carpenter. How can I raise a King?”
You probably don’t recognize this Christmas carol by singer and songwriter Michael Card. But imagine what was going through Joseph’s mind that night in the stable. Scripture doesn’t tell us very much about him. He must have been overwhelmed.
As a Jew trained in the faith, Joseph was taught to pray regularly for the Messiah to come. Now God was asking him to balance the duty of raising Jesus as his son, and yet to worship Him as the promised Messiah.
I know you have never faced such an impossible task. But maybe God has asked you to do something that seemed impossible. Throughout the three years of initial support raising that we did in order to come to the International Headquarters of Cru, my wife and I often viewed our monthly financial support goal as an insurmountable mountain.
But I think God asks us to do things that we can’t do alone so that we have nothing to lean on but Him. In his book, Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ, Michael Card says, “Perhaps, in the end, it’s not our abilities, but simply the fact that He says so. It is not a matter of what we can or cannot do, but of God’s power.”
What a safe place to be: trusting the Creator of heaven, earth and everything in between, with a job He Himself has asked us to do. When we place it back in His hands, and become obedient to His action plan, there is no better way to guarantee that job will be done, and done well.
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