My Daily Devotions - Sunday, August 10, 2025

Trusting god even when you are unsure what the plan is

S - Scripture

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. matthew 1:18-25

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. matthew 2:13-23

O - Observation

it’s much easier to do things, or want to do them, when you know what to expect or the outcome will be, much harder when none of those variables are known. joseph had the option to bail when he found out the woman (mary) he was to marry was pregnant and it wasn’t his child. even when he could have embarrassed her about it, he did the honorable thing by quietly keeping it a secret. then, in a dream, an angel of The Lord spoke to him that joseph didn’t need to divorce mary and that the son born to her would save the world of their sins - isaiah 7:14. if you are a non-believer, this could very well be chalked up to being delusional, hallucination, being high on something, etc., and you wouldn’t be surprise if he said “hell no” and got away from that situation, and he wouldn’t even be judged by doing so. not joseph, he just did as he was told without hesitation when he woke up. love to say i would’ve too, but that would mean i’m lying.

while king herod was trying to find out who “The King of the jews” was, another dream came to joseph to leave the area as herod had all kids 2 years and under killed because he was tricked by the wise men and really wanted to find our Messiah. just like the first time, joseph immediately did what he was told to do without thinking long and hard about it - he simply trusted this was what he was supposed to do. this particular dream happened twice, and joseph did so. three dreams, three active response by joseph, leading to prophecies fulfilled.

A - Application

when i have had dreams in the past, i often put them out of mind because i didn’t know specifically if this was just me wanting something, needing something, or being told to do something. a few times i would write them down, only to not think about or consider them. there, maybe, were a couple of times that i pursued what i thought was for me, only to find it wasn’t and it led to failure. when those times happened, it was quite frustrating because i really thought it was ‘God’s plan’ when, in reality, looking back it was because i wanted more for myself due to selfish reasons.

do my dreams align with what The Word of God teaches? if it isn’t absolutely clear, how does what i want to do match up to how God would be seen and magnified? if the outcome doesn’t bring glory, honor, and praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus, who does get it? need to get confirmations when i do have dreams and to follow through on the prompting of The Holy Spirit to decipher and act (doing and sometimes not) on it.

P - Prayer

dear Heavenly Father, when you speak to us through dreams, may we first seek you, get into Your Word, and to know if that is your will, your plan, and to do it your way. may you receive all the glory and praise when we fulfill what your plans and purpose for our lives are. in your beautiful and glorious name, Lord Jesus, we pray, amen!