Dealing with Embarrassing Situations
Matthew 1:19
"Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily."
Everybody has embarrassing situations that happen in their life. Parents are sometimes embarrassed because of the shameful actions of their children. Sometimes children are embarrassed because of their parent's shameful actions. A spouse is sometimes embarrassed because of something their spouse did. At some point everybody will deal with a situation in their life that is hard to deal with and very embarrassing.
Joseph faced an embarrassing situation when he found out that Mary was pregnant. You must realize that Joseph did not know that the Holy Spirit had placed the seed inside Mary. All he knew was that he was engaged to her, and he received word that she was pregnant. Imagine how embarrassed he felt when he found out she got pregnant while he was engaged to her. Though we know that this was of God, Joseph didn't. How he dealt with this embarrassing situation should be a lesson to everyone who goes through embarrassing times.
You will first notice that Joseph didn't react. It would have been very easy for Joseph to react. If Joseph reacted, he would have had Mary killed. If that would have happened, the eternity of all mankind would have been ruined. Just because you are embarrassed doesn't mean you should react. You don't know who will be impacted by your reactionary decision. Whenever you are embarrassed, be deliberate with your actions and not reactionary.
You will also notice that Joseph took time to decide what he should do. When embarrassing situations happen, you should take time to allow your emotions to settle down. Most of the time you don't have to make an immediate decision. This is why you need to take time to decide what you should do. If you rush into a decision, that decision most likely will be based off emotions. Normally, emotional decisions will lead to heartache. You've already been embarrassed, don't add more heartache to your embarrassment.
Furthermore, Joseph didn't attack Mary when he felt embarrassed. It would have been so easy for Joseph to attack her publicly and have her humiliated and even killed, but he was wise in not attacking. Just because someone embarrassed you does not mean you should attack them. Normally embarrassment happens because of sin. Instead of attacking the person, you should be more interested in trying to figure out a way to restore them. Attacking will only cause the situation to get worse. Don't ever let embarrassing situations cause you to attack someone else.
Finally, I believe Joseph took time to pray. In verse 20, the Holy Ghost came to Joseph with a message from God. I believe this happened because he spent time in prayer. Christian, whenever you are embarrassed, fall on your knees before God and pour out your situation to Him. If you are going to be reactionary in any area, then make prayer your first reaction to any situation. Only God can take your situation and make it better.
Has someone embarrassed you? Has someone caused you pain because of an indiscretion? Let Joseph's actions when he was embarrassed be your guide on how to deal with your embarrassing moments. We are the benefits of Joseph's right actions. You will never how much your actions will benefit or hurt people in the present and future. So, be sure to act in such a way that years down the road your actions will be looked at in the same manner that we look at Joseph's actions.