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In the Beginning…
#12. Joseph,
When Life Hands You Lemons…
…the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Genesis 39:23
Life is not “fair.” Once I grasp this truth, I have
choices about how to deal with it. I can be toughen up and be self-sufficient, refusing to ask for any help. I can lower my expectations, and spend my life pessimistic and depressed. I can be bitter and angry,
feeling cheated by everything and everyone. Or I can accept the inevitable consequences of living in a fallen world, and look for grace where others can’t (or won’t) see it. Joseph chose the latter, and he chose
well. How will I choose?
1. Life in this world is going to have its share of unpleasant
surprises.
a. _DREAMS_ don’t always come true, at least
not the way I think they should.
“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.
“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns
and say that a ferocious animal devoured him.
Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams…”
Judah said to his brothers,
“What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him;
after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.”
His brothers agreed.
So when the Midianite merchants came by,
his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern
and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites,
who took him to Egypt.
Genesis 37:19, 26-28
b. Doing the _RIGHT_THING_
will not always be rewarded.
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,
they hated him all the more…
His brothers said to him,
“Do you intend to rule over us? Will you actually rule us?”
And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Genesis 37:5, 8
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said,
“Come to bed with me.” But he refused…
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties,
and none of the household servants was inside.
She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!”
But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house…
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.
Then she told him this story:
“That Hebrew slave you bought us came to me to make sport of me…”
Genesis 39:6-8, 11-12, 16-17
“But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness,
mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.”
The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
Genesis 40:14, 23
His brothers were jealous of him…
Genesis 37:11
When his master heard the story his wife told him,
saying, “This is how your slave treated me,”
he burned with anger.
Genesis 39:19
The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him.
Genesis 40:23
2. Life’s frustrations are not always sign of God’s absence or
disapproval.
a. Sometimes, _LONELINESS_ is God’s way
of getting me to hear only His voice.
And the word of the Lord came to him:
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
The Israelites have rejected Your covenant,
broken down Your altars,
and put Your prophets to death with the sword.
I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
The Lord said,
“Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord,
for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart
and shattered the rocks before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face
and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
b. Sometimes, my _LIMITATIONS_
are God’s way of keeping my pride in check.
To keep me from becoming conceited
because of these surpassingly great revelations,
there was given me a thorn in my flesh,
a messenger from Satan, to torment me.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
But He said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
2nd Corinthians 12:7-9
c. Sometimes, _ADVERSITY_
is God’s way of strengthening my faith.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-
kept in Heaven for you,
who through faith are shielded by God’s power
until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith-
of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-
may be proved genuine
and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1st Peter 1:3-7
d. Sometimes, _DISAPPOINTMENT_
is God’s way of preparing me for later use.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles,
so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort that we ourselves have received from God.
2nd Corinthians 1:3, 4
e. At all times, God knows what He is doing, even if it not
clear to me at the time.
And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love Him,
who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
But Joseph said to them,
“Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
You intended to harm me,
but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done,
the saving of many lives.”
Genesis 50:19, 20
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