Joseph, the husband of Jesus’s mother, is a true unsung hero in the Bible. We don’t know much about him, and he’s easy to overlook when considering the heroes of the faith. But I submit Joseph was a model of obedience to God. Four times God gave Joseph faith-stretching, difficult, and even dangerous assignments, and all four times he not only obeyed, but did so without hesitation or question.
How many times does God’s Word compel us to do something challenging, and we come up with a myriad of excuses while doing everything we can to delay action? We can learn a lot from the faith and obedience of Joseph.
While every assignment required huge amounts of faith, nothing compared to the first. Finding out Mary was pregnant before their marriage made Joseph assume she had been unfaithful (Matthew 1:18–19). What other explanation was there? Their culture was far different from ours today, and this would have been a very shameful thing. But Joseph, being a righteous man, determined to divorce Mary (an engagement in those days was as binding as marriage) in private and go on with his life (Matthew 1:19).
Before he could act, an angel told him Mary was not unfaithful and carried the Son of God in her womb. In a dream, the angel told Joseph to take Mary as his wife as planned (Matthew 1:20–21). The next verse says when Joseph woke up, he took Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:24-25). No questions, no hesitation, no fear of the whispers of his friends and family. God gave him an assignment, and Joseph got it done despite the supernatural facts surrounding his circumstances. Joseph was too obedient to question God about the details because he recognized his place in relation to God (Proverbs 3:5-6; Job 40:4-5).
The second time our unsung hero showed unquestioning obedience was just a few months after Jesus was born. Somehow he had secured housing for his little family, which implies he was scratching out a living in Bethlehem. Life was falling into place, and he no doubt was planning on putting down some roots.
His life plans would get a serious disruption when an angel told him to get up in the middle of the night and flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13–14). This journey would be about 150 miles on foot, and they would start it at night when thieves were prowling the roads and countryside. Joseph didn’t wait for a better time or until he could prepare for the journey. He did what he always did and obeyed the voice of God.
The third act of obedience came when, after living in Egypt for several months, the Lord told him to return to Israel (Matthew 2:19–21). You have to feel for Joseph. Chances are he had just begun getting established as a foreigner in a strange country. Months of hard work would need to be thrown away. But as we’ve seen time and again with this man, Joseph did not hesitate. His default reaction to the voice of God was to obey. Would anyone say that of you or me?
We find Joseph’s final act of obedience in Matthew 2:22–23. Following the previous instruction to return to Israel, Joseph was afraid because the vicious son of Herod was reigning in his place. Even through his fear, Joseph was obedient. It doesn’t say he turned around, only that he was afraid. God blessed that obedience by having an angel instruct him to go to Nazareth, an out of the way little village where no one would come looking for a would-be king. Of course, Joseph obeyed, and the rest is biblical history. Jesus would hail from Nazareth (John 1:45–46).
Joseph isn’t in the infamous “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews chapter 11. We don’t sing songs about him or do Bible studies about him either. He is an unsung hero in the pages of the Bible and a shining example of unwavering and unquestioning obedience to God. Absurd tales of a virgin birth didn’t faze him (Luke 1:34–35). He was always willing to leave everything behind and go where God led him. Even fear could not thwart his obedience. There are great lessons we can learn from Joseph. His faith is an enduring example to us all (Hebrews 11:1; James 2:18).