day 11: brave in the waiting
Right at this moment I can relate to Joseph's story more than I'd like to admit. Life has fallen apart on me, again and again and it wasn't my fault. Joseph lived though what you what you an I experience on a regular basis - only like times a hundred - when things fall apart through no fault of our own.
It's one thing to find yourself in a mess because of your own mistakes, it's kinda gross feeling, and painful and humiliating at times, but it's your own mess and it's a little bit easier to accept. It is another thing entirely to have to deal with the mess someone else is dragging you through or dumping on you. When someone else dropped the ball, or lost their mess all over me or decided randomly to target me - y'all that's when it gets hard.
Joseph is our model for how to handle these moments with bravery. First of all he maintained his integrity, even when he might have felt like he had earned a pass or that he must not be in the sight go God. No, he lived his life as someone who knew God saw him. Joseph also models forgiveness. His brothers hadn't had an opportunity to ask for it, but Joseph's words are famous "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good..."and those words can only come from a place of forgiveness. We'll talk more about this in the next couple of days, but it takes bravery to forgive. We have to fight back the fear with forgiveness. We have to ask God for His perspective on the mess we find ourselves in - even the mess that we didn't create for ourselves.
It's one thing to find yourself in a mess because of your own mistakes, it's kinda gross feeling, and painful and humiliating at times, but it's your own mess and it's a little bit easier to accept. It is another thing entirely to have to deal with the mess someone else is dragging you through or dumping on you. When someone else dropped the ball, or lost their mess all over me or decided randomly to target me - y'all that's when it gets hard.
Joseph is our model for how to handle these moments with bravery. First of all he maintained his integrity, even when he might have felt like he had earned a pass or that he must not be in the sight go God. No, he lived his life as someone who knew God saw him. Joseph also models forgiveness. His brothers hadn't had an opportunity to ask for it, but Joseph's words are famous "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good..."and those words can only come from a place of forgiveness. We'll talk more about this in the next couple of days, but it takes bravery to forgive. We have to fight back the fear with forgiveness. We have to ask God for His perspective on the mess we find ourselves in - even the mess that we didn't create for ourselves.
Read: Genesis 37
- I bet there is something that comes immediately to mind when you think of something you're waiting on God about - jot it down in your notes, or write about a time when you experienced waiting for God in the past.
- How old was Joseph at the beginning of this story? (Gen 37:2)
- How many times did he dream?
- What is the significance of this? (Gen 41:32)
- What was Joseph's vision for his future?
Sometimes God gives us a vision for our lives but then our circumstances go the other way - instead of all the pieces falling together they seem to fall apart. This is pretty normal. We see this is the story of Moses, we see this in the story of David, we see this in the story of Jesus. But that doesn't make it easy to live through.
- Has God given you a vision for your life?
- Are you having any struggles with this?
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