Read:

The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.
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. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
See, the virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name him Immanuel,
which is translated “God is with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25

Have you ever paid attention to the role Joseph played in the events surrounding Jesus birth and childhood? Did you notice that he doesn’t have one recorded word in the scriptures (see also Matthew 2 and Luke 2)? Not one. Think about that. Even the shepherds, momentary characters in the story, have quotes attributed to them, but not Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.

Based on what we know about him, though, I doubt there was anything he could have said that would preach louder than what he did. What he may have lacked in words, he made up for in immediate obedient action.

What does Joseph’s story teach us about waiting?

Read:

If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. But if your slave says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way.
Deuteronomy 15:12-17

This passage in Deuteronomy describes a special kind of slave/master relationship called a bond servant. A bond servant was not a common slave. He or she was a voluntary lifetime servant who stayed with a master, not our of force, but out of love. How is a bond servant identified? How is he distinguished from an ordinary slave? With a pierced ear.

What does a pierced ear signify?

A permanent scar on the ear signifies a servant’s 24/7 attention to his master’s voice and his willingness to obey his master’s will. Do you see the picture? It’s a loving servant sitting at his master’s elbow in readiness to respond to his command.

Waiting in this sense is active obedience.

No one in all of Scripture demonstrates the waiting of a bond servant better than Joseph. The phrase that characterizes his life is “So he got up and did…”
Joseph waited on God in action and deed, and his responsiveness was the difference between life and death for the vulnerable infant Christ.

Advent is often characterized as a season of stillness, of waiting, and it is. Waiting without purpose, though, is laziness. Instead, we pause in anticipation of hearing the voice of our Master and then actively obey His voice in the way a waiter waits on tables. Often times, waiters are the most active people in the room. The sum of pausing to hear a command and acting to obey is the total of waiting.

Acting without listening is foolishness.
Listening without acting is disobedience.
Listening and acting is waiting.

Pray: Father, like Joseph, I want to show myself your bond servant. I acknowledge that waiting is defined by both attentive stillness and active obedience. One without the other is useless. As I sit in stillness a moment longer, you have my ear. Speak. Your servant is not only listening, but also willing to obey.