19Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead." 21Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."
"Bethlehem... Out of you shall come a Ruler", "Out of Egypt I called my Son.", "He shall be called a Nazarene". Anyone studying the scriptures trying to figure out where their Messiah was to come from would have had a tough time trying to decide where to watch. It is interesting that God tells us exactly what the future holds and still no one can know exactly what the future holds. We cannot predict how things will happen, but we can trust that God will do what He says He will do, often in ways which seem chaotic or in ways we would never have imagined. All three of these prophesies were fulfilled, not because Joseph wandered around aimlessly with his family not being able to decide where to settle down, but because God guided him every step of the way. God said Jesus would come from all three of these places, and He did.
God works in mysterious ways. If you just heard the story of Joseph without being aware of God's guidance you would probably wonder where God was in Joseph's difficult life. Joseph was to be married, but Mary showed up pregnant from someone else before they wed. They couldn't just settle down and prepare a home for their new baby, but an imperial decree said they must travel to Bethlehem during the most uncomfortable stages of Mary's pregnancy. Once getting there, it was so crowded that they had to settle down in a stable. To make matters worse, Mary had her baby in those rude surroundings. Next the lives of every young child was in danger. Joseph had to flee to escape that trouble and try to start a life in Egypt. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it would be difficult to be a young Jewish family in Egypt. Then he is told to go back to Israel, though he is still afraid of the king, so he looks for a new place to settle down, in Nazareth. This story of Joseph wasn't just a bad week, but spanned several years. It probably could have been very easy to just wallow in how miserable his life was going. But he didn't. He did as God directed every step of the way.
Having a difficult life does not mean that God does not care or that He isn't with you. Sometimes the path that God lays out for you is very difficult. But God doesn't give you any more than you can handle with his help. God gave Joseph a difficult start to his married life, but God also guided him every step of the way. Joseph probably saw more blessings in these trials as he knew God was guiding him over the difficult parts. God is there to guide us too if we look to Him. And if we can look beyond the difficulties in our lives, we will be able to see the many blessings that God has showered upon us too.