The word "favor" in the title isn't written without thought. I wouldn't say I could recognize "God's favor" in everyday life - usually. BUT, I know I'm surrounded by it, day in and day out. God has shown us favor, shown me favor, in the sending of his Son, our Savior, Jesus, to redeem us from our sins. God has shown us favor in giving us His Holy Spirit, to shape our communities of faith, to live and breath his life and light into our darkness. God has given us favor in everyday life with the nature we are surrounded with, with friends and family, with food and shelter. It's a good word, but it's not always easy to put a handle in concrete ways in which it appears to us.
Joseph is a man of God's favor; but having said that, read this passage slowly to realize what that favor meant: Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)
1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph, I want you to choose the unbelievable.
Joseph, I want you to embrace the impossible.
Joseph, I want you to love that which comes from me, and did not involve your own working.
Joseph, I want you to trust me and have faith in my plans, even though they seem inconceivable.
Joseph, I want you to walk into a life as a Father of a Son that is beyond your imagination.
Joseph, I want you to be prepared to face the gossip and finger-pointing, and judgments of those who will never really know - because I don't want you to defend me!
I try not to be one of those "alarmists" about the generation that is following mine. I have two sons, and two son-in-laws, and frankly I couldn't be happier. I have been "favored" as a Dad. But there is a part of me, the pastor part, that is concerned for "MEN - of Favor and Faith". I don't think God will hand us men easy tasks. I think the character of God that so desperately needs to be formed within happens in the crucible and fire of difficult acts of faith - when we choose to embrace the favor of God in spite of the world around us. God wants Men who believe that he wants to show them the full extent of his favor, and wants them to walk by faith in his word - above all other words surrounding us.
Many years ago, I read the words in the Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)
16:9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him..." I believed those words then, and I believe them today also. As Men, let us be those who seek God's face and believe that he has great things for us.
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