She had the nerve to get pregnant before we had sexual intercourse! Now she expects me to marry her. I have my reputation to uphold. My family will not hear of it. How do I know if she will stop these sexual exploits after we are married?
I would guess those are some of the thoughts that went through Joseph’s mind those 2,000 plus years ago. If Joseph would have asked me, I would have advised him to leave that harlot, slut, hussy of a woman. I would tell him to leave her to her own devices. However, Joseph saw himself as a protector. He would refuse to show up on T.V. asking for a paternity test.
Most families lack a protector. Many families, in fact, are headed by predators. The difficult thing about a protector is anticipation and vigilance. It is not good enough to meet the enemy once it is in the door. It is best to keep the enemy from even gaining access to the threshold. It is not good enough to just let those in their care ‘get what they deserve’. A protector always protects, even when they are rebuked by those in their care and rejected by those watching from outside.
Protectors, who do their jobs well, anticipate. They see dangers where those of the household see only friends and comfort. Protectors, who do their jobs well, are vigilant. They awaken early, and sleep late. That is not the literal sense of what I mean, it is the spiritual sense. They spend time with the Father asking for strength, guidance, and protection so they themselves will be able to provide the same for those in their charge.
It is not easy being protector. That is why so few men do it well, or at all. Many more men are predators than protectors. They pillage the family for its resources. They take and never give. They allow any enemy to invade, and often invite the enemy in to the lives of those whom they are called to protect.
Pray for your protectors. Pray that God will infuse them with the wisdom, stamina, diligence and commitment to do their jobs as it pleases Him. If your protector pleases God, rest assured, you are protected. Joseph was such a man. He pleased God, and God brought protection to Mary and the baby Jesus.
It is the protector who anticipates things going bump in the night of your lives, and then goes to see what it was. Joseph spent time with God. God would awaken Joseph in the night and advise him where to go and when. We need men, husbands and fathers like Joseph.
Matt 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Matt 2:12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.