Finding the Will of God Christmas Style

When I look at the narrative of Joseph (and Mary) in the Christmas story an interesting means of discerning God's will emerges. Joseph becomes aware of his fiancee's pregnancy (and implied immorality) and "he decided to divorce her privately not wishing to cause her shame." I infer that Joseph was making a decision based on his being a "good man" (Matthew1). His decision was founded on grace. He didn't want to cause her shame (the NASB reads 'disgrace'). He was not deciding to divorce her due to vindictiveness or anger. In fact, clearly he based his decision on God's Word (the allowance that Moses made for people so that they could divorce). He seems to have logically interpreted the Scripture and was moving toward action based on that logic. In summary Joseph was about to make a difficult decision based on grace, common sense and Scripture. Wow! He had to be on the right track ( I wish I could more often make decisions based on grace, common sense and Scripture). Except he was about to go against God's will.
God did intervene and redirected Joseph's decision clearly, aligning it with the revelation that Mary had received and the revelation of an ancient prophet (Isaiah). So God's plan was consistent and in place from centuries before and He made it clear to those who were faithful.
Mary's example adds to my understanding. She hears the good news (that will mean a considerable amount of bad news in her life) and yet she welcomes the Word of God, saying, "Be it done to me according to all that you (the angel Gabriel) have said."
I conclude that although we should make decisions based on grace, common sense and Scripture that does not guarantee that we will always make the correct decision. It is still important to recognize human weakness within us and seek a clear directive (conviction?) from God, always welcoming the Word of God and its principles into our lives.

The Real Grinch of Christmas

In the time of Jesus there was a real 'grinch', his name was Herod the Great. The world still sees him as one of the greatest builders of all time. This is an amazing accomplishment when one thinks of all the great builders, like the builder of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and other fabulous building ventures. Herod is probably best known for his building of the fortress of Masada, the port city of Caesarea and the Temple in Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, Herod may have been more prolific in murder than in building. It is known that he had a large number (in the hundreds) of rabbis killed. He killed among others two of his sons, his brother-in-law and his 'favorite' wife. Imagine the danger of being less than his favorite wife. After he murdered his sons, Caesar is said to have commented that it was safer to be one of Herod's dogs than one of his sons.
In approximately 4 BCE some Eastern astrologer/philosophers came into Herod's capital city of Jerusalem looking for a child "born to be king". Matthew 2 notes that, "Herod was troubled at this and all Jerusalem with him." According to Matthew it took two supernatural and very direct dreams to thwart Herod's attempt to kill the One born to be king. When Herod recognized that the baby Jesus had escaped, his anger boiled over. He ordered his soldiers to kill all the baby boys in the vicinity of Bethlehem that were two years old and younger. Undoubtedly, hundreds of baby boys were killed.
Thus Herod attempted to destroy Christmas before it got started. God thwarted Herod's evil attempts to kill Jesus before His time. And God would ultimately thwart 'the murder of the innocents' by sending Jesus to die on a cross so the world could overcome death.
So Herod is known as the builder of great buildings and the destroyer of lives, while the One he tried to kill never built a single building, yet He is the Savior of all our lives.