Here is a devotion to start your day!
Also available now at Power, Love & Miracles:
HIdden Heroes of the Bible: The Empty Tomb. Introduction
Joseph of Arimathea. The Bible Unplugged podcast, episode 71
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Hero: Joseph, Mary’s husband
Obedience in dreams, decisions, and daily work
Scripture: Matthew 1–2; Luke 2
Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him…
Reflection
Joseph doesn’t say a single recorded word in Scripture.
But his life speaks volumes.
He’s a working man, a carpenter, engaged to a young woman named Mary. Before the wedding, he finds out she’s pregnant—and he knows the child isn’t his. His world feels like it collapses overnight.
He could react with anger, humiliation, or revenge. Instead, even before the angel appears, Joseph chooses a path of quiet mercy: he plans to break the engagement privately, to minimize Mary’s shame.
Then, God meets him in a dream.
“Don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife,” the angel says, “for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Joseph wakes up and simply does what God tells him. No big speech. No spiritual fanfare. Just obedience.
That’s Joseph’s pattern.
Dream. Instruction. Obedience.
Over and over again.
Get up and flee to Egypt.
Get up and go back to Israel.
Settle in Nazareth.
Between those major moments, Joseph’s heroism looks like daily work: building, providing, teaching Jesus how to hold a tool, how to say the Shema, how to walk in this world.
Maybe you feel more like Joseph than like Peter or Paul. You don’t see yourself as a spiritual “voice.” You’re not leading crowds. But you are making decisions, shouldering responsibilities, waking up and going to work, caring for people God has entrusted to you.
Joseph’s life tells you this: quiet obedience is powerful obedience.
God often steers history through people who listen in the night and obey in the morning. You may not get dreams with angels, but you do have nudges from the Spirit, wisdom from Scripture, and invitations in the ordinary:
Forgive instead of resent.
Stay when it would be easier to run.
Protect the vulnerable.
Do what’s right even when no one is watching.
Your “yes” to God in those moments is not small. It’s fathering and mothering the work of God in your corner of the world.
Centering Prayer
Father God,
You see the responsibilities I carry that few others notice. Sometimes they feel heavy and unseen. Center me in your presence as Joseph was. Help me listen for your guidance, accept the adjustments you ask of me, and embrace the quiet honor of caring for what you entrust to me. – Amen
Practice for Today
Choose one ordinary responsibility—perhaps something you dread—and consciously do it as an act of love for God and for those under your care.
Journaling Prompt
Where do I feel like a “quiet caretaker” in my life? How might I see those roles as part of God’s story instead of as burdens or afterthoughts?
Closing Blessing
Seek and find God’s work in ordinary tasks.
Let quiet obedience guide your choices more than convenience.
Create spaces of safety and provision for others.
Honor your unseen responsibilities as sacred trusts from God.
Pray as You Go
Breathe in: Guide my steps...
Breath out: ... I serve with love
