Hello friends, welcome to In Bolden. I'm Chris Shatter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Welcome to the new series, New Beginnings. I read this great comment by a young woman that I follow on Instagram.
And it goes, 2022 is not going to be your year. It's God's year. In fact, every year has been and will be his. Once you believe that your life and your time all belong to him, every year will be a victory.
He holds the victory and the whole world in his hands every year, every day, live for him. I hope that's what you get out of this series. Enjoy. Today's new beginning comes from Matthew 1, 19.
So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. We left off our study last week of new beginnings with a cliffhanger of sorts. There sat Jonah on that hill, wishing he were dead. And God reminding Jonah that he cares for all people of the earth, especially the ones, quote, who cannot tell their right hand from their left, unquote.
Thank goodness for that, because there are many days I feel and act like one of those foolish people. If left to being helped out of my fiery pit by unloving sleepy Christians or even atheists, I would surely find myself in the depths of health. But for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And those that submit themselves, not only to their will, but do so out of love.
So we leave the Old Testament with many more stories of new beginnings than I have shared over the last few weeks. And with the hope that Jonah finally grasped God's message of works without love is empty and useless. But here's the thing about our guidebook for life, the Bible, God's holy word. There's thousands of connections back and forth between the ancient stories in the Old Testament and the newer history of the New Testament.
Which leads us to the first beginning we encounter in the book of Matthew. He's another Noah, another servant of God who was the waymaker for the world's new beginning. He's a connector from the old ways to the new. A man who like Noah was considered righteous and faithful to God.
But before we get into that, let me share with you a modern story of another righteous man who helped shepherd in a new beginning for one small child. Epoch's children's home received this first-hand account from a foster parent in 2017 about his experience in becoming a foster father. Quote, Our family has been fostering a boy since October. Yesterday our foster child had a court hearing to determine what step to take as far as this custody goes.
I haven't shared a lot about the whole foster experience because I've been afraid to be completely honest. Afraid because fostering has been a lot harder for me than I thought it would be. Not because the child is difficult. It has been hard because of my heart.
Ever since he came into our home, I have been terrified of becoming too attached and having my heart broken when you would eventually leave our home. I have been terrified of giving him all of my love, my energy, my grace and my compassion. I was sitting in the courtroom listening to the different parties discussing and debating the best course of action for the child's future when I started shaking. I began to realize this is the moment.
The moment I decided to completely expose my heart to the potential of pain or keep my walls up. It was absolutely terrifying. I started hearing a small voice inside that I could no longer ignore and it was telling me to fight for this child. I realized I was willing to do anything for him.
So my wall started to crumble around me and I heard the judge call my name. He wanted to know if I wanted to adopt this child. I wanted to scream, yes, he is my son. But I think I said something a little less dramatic like, yes, sir, we are working on becoming licensed for adoption for this child.
I then heard the judge say that he is ordering the termination of parental rights and opening this case for adoption. The weight of this decision is not lost on me, but it was one of the most powerful experiences that I have ever had. Matthew 1 20 says, but after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Joseph, he was our Lord's foster father.
As a devote follower of the Mosaic Law, he had every right to not only publicly shame Mary for her, quote, adultery, but also to have her stoned to death. Before the angel even spoke to him, however, love, kindness and compassion took over and he decided to quietly divorce her. Think back of how Jonah would have responded. Surely God would have had to intervene to save Mary's life from Jonah's anger.
After Joseph obeyed God's urging to complete his marriage vows to Mary, his troubles surely were not over. Like Noah, he would have faced public humiliation. The knowledge of Mary's pregnancy in the small village of Nazareth would have spread like a wildfire, and yet he stayed the course. He stayed faithful not only to Mary, but to God.
He didn't, by all accounts, do it begrudgingly like Noah. He took up the mantle of foster father and protected his family, raised his son as his own. His new beginning was his father to someone else's son, an earthly role model, a shepherd like Noah for what was to be all of humanity's new beginning. Joseph and the unnamed servant girl who held the name in Second Kings Five also have a lot in common.
They were faithful. They had a heart for God. They stepped up to help when they could have taken a different path. Their small steps were a gift to many, and they both are but a few lines in our history.
Joseph's last mention of him doesn't even use his name. Jesus is 12 years old, immersed in the teachings at the temple, and his parents are frantically looking for him. His mother chastises him and says, quote, your father and I have been anxiously searching for you, unquote. After that, Joseph fades away.
Most likely he passes before Jesus begins his adult ministry. And yet we remember him each Christmas for his shepherding, protecting and faith. We should all add a bit of thanks to Joseph each day we pray in Jesus' name, because like so many faithful servants of Christ, he obeyed out of love. He didn't ask or require that thanks.
He didn't harbor ill will for having to endure hardship. He put his head down, his hands out, and his heart lifted and said to God, I will. I want to share with you the rest of the letter written up with children's home by that foster father. Quote, I will end with this.
This is especially for you guys and fathers. If you feel God tugging at your heart to become a foster parent, listen. There will always be a reason to not become a foster parent. But if your main reason is that you are scared your heart will be broken, then you especially need to do it.
Foster children need someone who will be heartbroken over them. They need someone who is going to stick by them when things get hard. They haven't experienced that. They need someone to love them and be gentle with them when they come over and hit you in the face with them or break your glasses.
Not that I've ever had that happen, that is completely hypothetical of course. They need someone who is going to be faithful to them and strong for them in their weakest moments. I am by no means perfect in any of those, but I am strong in my faith, and it provides me the love, strength, and grace that I need. Fostering has made me more dependent on God in everything, and that is good.
Ultimately, I am a foster child who was adopted into his family, and I am fully loved. Amen. I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Abolden Podcast. Be sure to follow along so you don't miss any episode, and check out my blog at embolden.net.