Max Lucado Daily Reading 3

"When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home to be his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." - Matthew 1:24-25

The big question asked by Max today is , "Why Joseph?" He questions the choice of this man as opposed to some lofty priest or scholar. What intrigued me is that the reason for God's choice of this man was probably because of the way he sacrificed his own reputation in order to be Mary's husband and the dad to Jesus.
Here on earth, we always seem to want the approval of others. Joseph knew that according to others, he should shun her publicly and then get out of the situation entirely.
It amazes me how similar this is to the story of Jesus talking with the woman caught in adultery. Men led her out to be stoned, telling Jesus of her sin and what should b e done. Instead of shunning her publicly like the other men did, he turned the situation around on them - "The one without sin should cast the first stone." Obviously the stones dropped and everyone went away. I wonder if when this happened later in his life, Jesus had any idea that his earthly father, Joseph had made a similar decision. His dad made a decision to let go his "unblemished reputation" because he believed. He put God's plan ahead of his own.
Today, I am praying that God will help me to put his plan ahead of my own and that you can do the same.