REFLECTION: Chapter 3

Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh



"Jacob had 12 sons. But Joseph was his favorite." 

Right there.
Those two little sentences sure don't bode well for Joseph.

Favored as he was by his father, his "lower story" life was decidedly UNfavorable ...

Beaten up by his brothers.
Thrown into a hole by his brothers.
Left for dead, again, by his brothers.
Oops, wait, sold into slavery instead. (Brothers again.)
Thrown into jail.
Framed for rape.
Thrown in jail. Again. 

After reading that list, you might think the moral of the story is: "Don't mess with your brothers." (My brothers would probably give that a hearty, "Amen!") 

But Joseph's story isn't really about them. His brothers are just the minor characters in his story. They're bad guys God uses for GOOD in his "upper story." 

From our perspective (lower story), Joseph is in the very worst place--far from home, abandoned by family, stuck in jail. But from a divine perspective (upper story), he was in the very BEST place--right where God wants him to be.

God uses the sins of others to prepare Joesph for something very, very good: to be second in command to the Pharaoh, a place of power and influence that God can use for his purposes.

It doesn't mean it wasn't painful. It doesn't mean it wasn't scary and awful and probably something Joseph never would have volunteered for. But it was all a part of his story. And the bad part is not the end of his story.

If his brothers hadn't sold him into slavery and if Potiphar's wife hadn't gotten him thrown in jail, he would have never met the king's servant who needed someone to interpret a dream, which was his ticket out of jail. All the bad guys in this story had a purpose and a role: to put Joseph right where God wanted him to be.

God can do amazing things with sin and terrible situations because God is sovereign. He is in control when life feels out of control; he gives meaning to things which seem purposeless.


DO IT
Think about a difficult time in your life and how God used the bad to make something good. Think about a time in your "lower story" where God's "upper story" broke in and gave you hope and the strength to persevere.

Fill in this sentence: "If I had not gone through _____________________________, then I never would have learned _____________________________." 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 

Reflection: Chapter 2 ... SOVEREIGN

Have you ever wanted something (or someone) so much that you were willing to go to crazy lengths to get what/who you wanted?

If so, you're not alone. Let me introduce you to Abraham and Sarah, an octogenarian couple who really, really wanted to have a child.

In fact, God told them they would have a child. Not only that, but also that their descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. They were ecstatic. And a little bit incredulous.

But because they wanted the child so darn much, it was pretty hard to continue to believe God's promise since no child appeared on the scene. Not that day. Nor the next. Or the next. (You get the picture.)

With each passing day, as they waited for God to deliver on His promise, they got a little older and incredulous-er. Thinking Sarah's elderly body might be the problem, they took matters into their own hands to help God out. Remember last week when we talked about how God's image in us is blurry? Here's a good example--they knew that God would keep His promise but they just couldn't wait.

(If you haven't yet, read how well their Plan B worked out here HERE.  PS It didn't.) 

It turns out Sarah wasn't the problem, not really. And Abraham wasn't the problem either. SIN was the problem--impatience and envy and thinking they knew better than God.

Fortunately for them, their God--and OUR God--is sovereign.
God is in complete control.
Of everything.
Of His promises and the ways He keeps His promises.

And even when we try to help things along--or rather, HURRY things along--we will never ruin God's plan.

Complicate it, yes. But ruin it? Not in a million years.
Thank God.

QUESTIONS--feel free to leave your answers in the comment! 
Time to 'fess up: when have you tried to "help" God out by hurrying things up? What was the result?