Reason #586
I made it through Genesis. It has only taken me a few weeks to make it through 50 chapters. Well, regardless, one book down, 65 to go. And as I read through Genesis, the recurring theme seemed to be deception. The serpent, wives, sons, the fathers. Everyone was deceiving everyone. And yet through all their scheming, planning, and flat out lying, God still worked in really big ways.
One of my co-workers and I talked about deception this morning. She and I have a pretty similar story and as we talked, we both agreed that we just wished for honesty. We just wished that facts were always presented, well, factual and that intentions were, too. That the whole truth was told upfront so that you didn't have to find out later. That people really did have others' best interest at hearts so that no one would end up feeling broken and hurt. But we all do it at one point or another. Bend the truth just a bit, withhold information, keep things to ourselves, and by doing so deception makes its way in.
But what is it that leads us to do these things? Maybe it's jealousy. Maybe we really want something, or maybe we really want something someone else has. Who knows our motive, but there's always some sort of selfish motive as the driving force, and as I read Joseph's story tonight, I saw, once again, that people really haven't changed in over 2000 years.
Joseph had this multicolored coat. The coat of many colors, as we call it in Sunday school. Anyway, it was just a coat. An article of clothing, that's it. It wasn't magical or really expensive, it was just a gift from his father. And so growing up I always thought that his brothers were mad about the fact that he had this coat and they didn't. But it wasn't really the coat, per say. It was the favor. It was the fact that Joseph was his father's favorite and they all knew it. And if that wasn't enough to stir up some serious sibling rivalry, Joseph had this ability that really irked them. He had these really vivid dreams and in each one, he was ruling over his brothers. Nothing like an overly confident, cocky little brother to really make you mad. And so his brothers decided they'd just take care of him once and for all. They'd just kill him, problem solved. Now they'd never have to hear about his stupid dreams anymore, watch him prance around in that fancy coat, or see their father doting on him. But their plan to kill him turned into a plan to spare his life and sell him into slavery. And after they got their money's worth, they dipped his coat in blood and then told their father that his favorite, beloved son had died. Lies, lies, lies,
Well fast forward a few years, after a lot of crazy things have happened in Joseph's life, and he is now appointed the second in command over all of Egypt. A man in charge because of his honesty and character. Of course, the reason he got the job was because of his dream interpreting talent, but the reader realizes it's God's hand in Joseph's life that gets him to this point. And now the time has come for revenge. He's become the hero of Egypt and his brothers show up to beg for food. A plea to save their lives. And after a bit of time, Joseph reveals to them who he is. The pesky little brother they sold into slavery has now become one of the most powerful men of their time. You know this was something they never expected. And now, he has the opportunity to do the same thing to them as they did to him... or worse. But he doesn't. Because Joseph realized that had his brothers not sold him into slavery, he wouldn't be standing there before them saving their lives. Had they chosen to actually kill him, he wouldn't have had the life he now had. He wouldn't have the chance or the platform he had to not only serve the Lord, but to reflect God's goodness, too. To save millions of people from death by famine. To display God's power, and to preserve the line that would one day birth the Messiah.
Joseph told his brothers he didn't want revenge because "what they mean for evil, the Lord meant for good." And aren't you so glad for that? Because you see, sometimes we go through life and things are just rough. We face really difficult situations. We feel like the odds are stacked against us and we can't win for losing. If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have to luck at all. We feel like things couldn't possibly get worse, and yet somehow they do. We were deceived into thinking this life was going to be good and easy. We thought this relationship, this job, this city, this fill in the blank, was going to turn out really good. But it didn't. We were hurt, betrayed, let down, disappointed, rejected, abandoned, and for what? Yet look at Joseph's life. It took some time, but look what God did through the disaster. He used every single trial to prepare Joseph for a really big role. He was going to use Joseph in a mighty way, and so he needed to be refined. Loyalty regardless of the circumstance needed to be displayed. Good character, even in a bad situation, needed to be practiced. And when the right time came, God rolled all of those really tough, stressful, difficult, humiliating, frustrating circumstances into one incredible blessing.
So learn from Joseph and hang tight. Keep being loyal even if those around you aren't. Don't believe that the darkness will never end, it will. Don't be tricked into thinking that God can't turn your circumstances around and do incredible things with you. He can. Keep moving forward even if you have no clue where you are headed. Keep doing what you know is right even if everything keeps going wrong. And have faith that if God is removing you from one situation, even if it's a difficult process, He's moving you on to something better than you could have imagined for yourself, something that is in accordance with His will. So don't doubt what He's capable of doing, and definitely don't doubt what He is capable of doing through you.
#586 - Because He is capable of doing great things through us if we will obediently hang in there.
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." - Genesis 50:20
One of my co-workers and I talked about deception this morning. She and I have a pretty similar story and as we talked, we both agreed that we just wished for honesty. We just wished that facts were always presented, well, factual and that intentions were, too. That the whole truth was told upfront so that you didn't have to find out later. That people really did have others' best interest at hearts so that no one would end up feeling broken and hurt. But we all do it at one point or another. Bend the truth just a bit, withhold information, keep things to ourselves, and by doing so deception makes its way in.
But what is it that leads us to do these things? Maybe it's jealousy. Maybe we really want something, or maybe we really want something someone else has. Who knows our motive, but there's always some sort of selfish motive as the driving force, and as I read Joseph's story tonight, I saw, once again, that people really haven't changed in over 2000 years.
Joseph had this multicolored coat. The coat of many colors, as we call it in Sunday school. Anyway, it was just a coat. An article of clothing, that's it. It wasn't magical or really expensive, it was just a gift from his father. And so growing up I always thought that his brothers were mad about the fact that he had this coat and they didn't. But it wasn't really the coat, per say. It was the favor. It was the fact that Joseph was his father's favorite and they all knew it. And if that wasn't enough to stir up some serious sibling rivalry, Joseph had this ability that really irked them. He had these really vivid dreams and in each one, he was ruling over his brothers. Nothing like an overly confident, cocky little brother to really make you mad. And so his brothers decided they'd just take care of him once and for all. They'd just kill him, problem solved. Now they'd never have to hear about his stupid dreams anymore, watch him prance around in that fancy coat, or see their father doting on him. But their plan to kill him turned into a plan to spare his life and sell him into slavery. And after they got their money's worth, they dipped his coat in blood and then told their father that his favorite, beloved son had died. Lies, lies, lies,
Well fast forward a few years, after a lot of crazy things have happened in Joseph's life, and he is now appointed the second in command over all of Egypt. A man in charge because of his honesty and character. Of course, the reason he got the job was because of his dream interpreting talent, but the reader realizes it's God's hand in Joseph's life that gets him to this point. And now the time has come for revenge. He's become the hero of Egypt and his brothers show up to beg for food. A plea to save their lives. And after a bit of time, Joseph reveals to them who he is. The pesky little brother they sold into slavery has now become one of the most powerful men of their time. You know this was something they never expected. And now, he has the opportunity to do the same thing to them as they did to him... or worse. But he doesn't. Because Joseph realized that had his brothers not sold him into slavery, he wouldn't be standing there before them saving their lives. Had they chosen to actually kill him, he wouldn't have had the life he now had. He wouldn't have the chance or the platform he had to not only serve the Lord, but to reflect God's goodness, too. To save millions of people from death by famine. To display God's power, and to preserve the line that would one day birth the Messiah.
Joseph told his brothers he didn't want revenge because "what they mean for evil, the Lord meant for good." And aren't you so glad for that? Because you see, sometimes we go through life and things are just rough. We face really difficult situations. We feel like the odds are stacked against us and we can't win for losing. If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have to luck at all. We feel like things couldn't possibly get worse, and yet somehow they do. We were deceived into thinking this life was going to be good and easy. We thought this relationship, this job, this city, this fill in the blank, was going to turn out really good. But it didn't. We were hurt, betrayed, let down, disappointed, rejected, abandoned, and for what? Yet look at Joseph's life. It took some time, but look what God did through the disaster. He used every single trial to prepare Joseph for a really big role. He was going to use Joseph in a mighty way, and so he needed to be refined. Loyalty regardless of the circumstance needed to be displayed. Good character, even in a bad situation, needed to be practiced. And when the right time came, God rolled all of those really tough, stressful, difficult, humiliating, frustrating circumstances into one incredible blessing.
So learn from Joseph and hang tight. Keep being loyal even if those around you aren't. Don't believe that the darkness will never end, it will. Don't be tricked into thinking that God can't turn your circumstances around and do incredible things with you. He can. Keep moving forward even if you have no clue where you are headed. Keep doing what you know is right even if everything keeps going wrong. And have faith that if God is removing you from one situation, even if it's a difficult process, He's moving you on to something better than you could have imagined for yourself, something that is in accordance with His will. So don't doubt what He's capable of doing, and definitely don't doubt what He is capable of doing through you.
#586 - Because He is capable of doing great things through us if we will obediently hang in there.
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." - Genesis 50:20
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