Monday, February 29: Genesis 43- Life in its ups and downs.

So today we read again of brothers meeting after REAL problems. First we had Jacob and Esau and now Joseph meeting his brothers years after they sold him into slavery…

How many of life’s issues, I wondered, involve family problems? Sin just gums up the works!

There is definite nervousness by the brothers in coming back to Egypt. They don’t know Joseph is their brother but from the previous encounter they are wondering if this is God’s judgment on them for what they did to Joseph.

I wonder what it is like living with the silent guilt all those years.

Joseph, on the other hand, has had the time between meeting one and two to decide how he would treat them if they return. Will forgiveness or retribution reign? The account seems to favor forgiveness, but the story line could go either way at this point.

Stewing over things can be an uncomfortable place in life. Sometimes grace prevails, sometimes not. I think of the ‘Hatfield and McCoy’ feud in West Virginia lore. It began in 1863 and raged until 1891 and lingered until 1901! 30⁺ years of violence and bloodshed. Lots of brooding and trying to get even or ahead.

Like I said, sometimes brooding and stewing over things does not lead to good. But at times it does.

Esau apparently got over his resentment of Jacob during Jacob’s years of absence. And Joseph was able to let go of any grudge he may have harbored.

I don’t know how these men got past their hurts.  However, as I look into my own life, I recognize that for me the most important element is to let God work in my life.

When I am hurt and start to brood and stew, I can and do go to ugly places. As the hurts emerge I try to hand them over to the Lord. This isn’t generally easy or quick, but I work at it. Sometimes I need to share my goings on with a trusted Christ-following friend, sometimes I can go it alone. Letting God work in ME is the most important step. Over time God’s grace in me overlays my hurt and pain and desire for revenge.  When things are best I ultimately can extend grace to the one who hurt me.

Each time I go through this it is different, but laying things at God’s feet and allowing God to work in ME is the key to grace-filled resolution.

Stuff happens… but God’s way can prevail if we allow and invite God into our healing process.

Well, this is where I traveled today as I mused on Joseph’s story.

Where did you go?

Lord, thank You for being available to take my pains and overly grace upon them. Sometimes they continue to hurt, but Your grace is bigger than any of my hurts. That is one thing I have learned during my years with You. Thank You and bless You. Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.

 

Saturday, February 27: Genesis 42- God's direction.

Not every dream is from God, but some are. Scripture is full of people receiving dreams God used to direct them. I have never received such a dream, but it happens too often in Scripture to be discounted, if I am going to believe Scripture.

So Joseph is reminded of the dreams he had years ago. God, it appears, is bringing them to fruition.

Like I said, I haven’t had a life directing dream from God, but God has certainly directed my life in various ways. And Joseph’s story moved me to consider the ways the Lord has directed my life over the decades.

God has used other people in my life. I think of mostly brothers or sisters in Christ whose counsel helped shape who I am today. But God also used the wise counsel of non-believers. One of the best pieces of advice and one that helped me make the decision to apply and then go to seminary was from a college professor. I don’t know if he had faith or not, we never spoke and he never gave any indication of faith,  However, his advice helped give me the courage to step out of my engineering career path and take a shot at seminary. That decision is second only to marrying my wife, in regards to shaping my life and who I am today.

Scripture… reading and studying God’s Word… is the major source of God’s direction in my life. Dreams, visions, counsel, hunches & promptings all need to be tested, weighed and measured against Scripture before acting on it as a word from God. There is always a subjective nature to dreams as a mode of communication from God. But God’s Word is eternal. Truth is truth and when I act on God’s truth there is no mistaking it. A life built on solidly studying and understanding God’s Word is a life built on a solid foundation.

As I ponder on Joseph’s story and my story, I believe that my life has been led by God as much as Joseph’s. Whether I have been as faithful is up for discussion. But I certainly have felt and been directed by the hand of God as I have attempted to live for Him.

What about you? Are you listening for and following God’s Word and God’s direction in your life? Think about it…

Lord, thank you for leading and guiding me. Show me how, God, how to understand Your Word, written and impressed upon my soul. This is my prayer,  In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

 

Friday, February 26: Genesis 41- Waiting.

The very first sentence grabbed me. When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream… (1a). The two full years drew me in.

I wondered what those years of waiting were like for Joseph. The cupbearer was free and promised to speak on Joseph’s behalf. But he didn’t; he forgot. And so Joseph continued to wait in prison.

I am not a good wait-er. I grow impatient. I think and stew, fret and wonder. And yet, waiting is part of life, and as I have found, waiting is when the Lord does some of His best work in my life.

While I wait, God is at work in me and in the situations and circumstances of my life.

Recently my church transferred from one denomination to another. It was a long ordeal, just a month under 6 years. Sometimes we were actively working and negotiating, other times we were simply waiting. At times the waiting seemed interminable.  However, thinking back over the years of waiting, God did some amazing things during that time.

My timing and God’s timing were different and God’s timing was right and it was best.

Joseph must have learned much about waiting and God being at work in the darkness of waiting. I’m sure Joseph was surprised where God took him when he was finally released from prison. Honestly to go from prison to 2^nd in control of the country, is a leap no one could have imagined. But that is what God did only after Joseph was forced to wait two full years!

Waiting doesn't guarantee a super outcome but it is often part of God’s plan. And God’s plan is always right.

Waiting, God is reminding me, is part of His maturing process for me and you who are His children.

So what do you think about waiting…???

Lord, help me to follow the lead of the Psalmist who wrote: Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14). We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield (Psalm 33:20). Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes (Psalm 37:7).

O, God, help me to learn to wait for Your time… In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

 

Thursday, February 25: Genesis 40- A new gift for a new day.

Joseph’s organizational and leadership gifts, plus the favor of God, have been upon him since he entered Egypt. We saw them first in Potiphar’s house, then in the prison. Now a new gift emerges. In a moment of necessity, Joseph finds that he has the faith and reliance on God so that he can interpret dream.  Joseph has had dreams himself before but he didn’t appear to know what they meant. Now he seeks and receives the interpretive aspect of dreams.

I know Joseph’s story well enough to realize that this dream will be his ticket out of jail and into the presence of Pharaoh himself. But I don’t want to run too far ahead.

Back to today’s story, Joseph receives this gift in a moment of need. It seems to me that God releases most of His gifts to His people in a moment of need. Gifts test and inventories tell us about who we are and what we have done. But Joseph, in a place of ministry, couldn’t look back into his life to ‘find’ this gift. He had to seek God in the present so that he could be an agent of God in the moment… from this, God’s gift came. This makes some sense to me. God wants us touching others for Him. So it is that needed gifts flow when we are in the connection place between a human in need and God who can supply that need.

Second Joseph is clearly relying on God, not himself. There are times when I can help a person in need from what God has already given me. To help that person is to be a ‘Good Samaritan.’ But there are times when the need present is not within my resources, it is then that I need to relay on God to provide what I do not have. I have seen that in prayer with people for healing, or when a word of wisdom flows through me that I know is not from my store-house of personal experience.

Sometimes that flow of gifts is just for the moment. Sometimes it is the first use of a gift God gives to us to use throughout our lives. Only God knows that answer.

My counsel at this point is to ALWAYS remember that the gifts bring glory and honor to God not to self!!! 

Are you interested in having God’s gifts flow through you? Then become active in ministry and watch what God will do…

Have a great day living for Jesus.

Lord, Thank You for using me in regular and beyond regular ways. May all my life bring You honor and glory. Though Your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen

 

Wednesday, February 24: Genesis 39- A God-honoring approach to life .

A portion of verse 9 caught my attention: …How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? This is what Joseph said to Potiphar’s wife when she tried to seduce him.

It was the idea that God played such an important part in his life that Joseph didn’t want to sin against God that got me.

It wasn’t fear of losing his job… it was doing the wrong thing in God’s eyes that controlled Joseph’s behavior. That’s a powerful thought as it sinks into me. It is not just being a good person that motivates Joseph; it is honoring God with his life.

What a God-honoring approach to life, I thought.

That’s the way I want to live… having the automatic response to honor God in whatever situation I find myself in…

How about you? How do you want to live your life? What will be your center and foundation? Think about it.

Lord, Joseph apparently changed. He seems to have grown up and matured. The arrogance and self-centeredness that seems to govern his young life appears to have been washed away by the trials he endured. Joseph, the adult, is someone to emulate.  Lord, I ask for strength to do just that, emulate Joseph and his love for You and his willingness to face the consequences of a living a life that honors You. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

Tuesday, February 23: Genesis 38- Duplicity.

I am not sure there is much ‘redeeming’ about this story. But it does have all the elements of a modern romance novel, sex, betrayal, lying and a measure of redemption. Maybe life hasn’t changed all that much over the millennia.

Judah did remind me how duplicitous and self-centered we can be. Here, too, human nature has changed very little over time.

Double standards, oh my, they continue to be rampant to this day. What an affront to God they are…

This drove me to consider my life and thoughts and stances on many of the social and religious issues of today. Am I a double standard person, especially if the double standard justifies myself? A few present day issues tumble in my thoughts:

Care of the poor

Tax breaks

Sex, affairs, homosexuality

Religious freedoms, especially for people who are not Christians.

I know this is a strange time with the Lord, but God seems to be probing me. He’s asking me if I will truly stand with Him and hold myself accountable to His Word.   Also, will I even  mentally hold others to His Word and will?

If I take a hard stand, will I take it from faith and live it myself?

It is so human to rationalize one’s own behaviors as Judah did, while at the same time drawing a very sharp and hard line with others. This, the Lord is reminding me, is not His way… not His way at all.

O, Lord, show me where I carry double standards. Show me where I say one thing but live another. Show me where I justify myself but condemn others. Show me Lord so that I can grow up and deal with my failing for Your sake and the sake of the Gospel I bear with my life.

I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

Monday, February 22: Genesis 37- Crappy things happen.

Whether it is family squabbles or fights, cancer, illness or loss of employment, crappy things happen in life. Joseph, being anything but innocent in family dealings, did not deserve what his brothers did to him. No one deserves to be sold into slavery. The brothers were wrong! Oh, how sin abounds in the human heart!!!

At the same time Joseph has to deal with it. It is Joseph’s responsibility to act in accordance with his faith, despite the horrendous fact of being sold as a slave. We will see how Joseph does in the coming chapters.

Typing the word ‘slavery’ above took my thoughts in a completely different direction. Through the ministry of International Justice Mission (www.IJM.org) and an anti-slavery awareness campaign called Dressember (www.dressember.org), I have learned that there are some 36 million people enslaved against their will, some in exhausting and dangerous jobs and many as sex slaves. 50% of those enslaved are children and 70% are women.

When I got angry at Joseph’s brothers for what they did to him, the facts of modern day slavery welled up within me. I don’t want my devotional time and this blog to become a soapbox, so I resist pontificating. Instead, I turn quiet, asking myself questions and going to prayer. The questions went something like this:

What is my responsibility, knowing that people are enslaved in my world?

What would God have me do that is positive and life-giving with the anger I am feeling?

As the questions flow, prayer becomes my only response.

O God, 36 million people… people You created with dignity…men, women, and children, like my family members and men,,,some like Joseph sold by family members, some kidnapped, some tricked… all held against their will… slaves, chattel, hurting…

Lord, our world can be so wonderful and so horrible at the same time. This is certainly not the only injustice our world is presently producing but it is one of which I am aware. What do you have for me to do? Is there something beyond this morning with You and this time in prayer that You want me to do?

Speak, Lord, Your son is listening…

O, God, I hope I am listening… Amen.