One Heck of a Compliment

A reflection on Genesis 39:6-20; 40:9-14; 40:23

Joseph was:

• Sold into slavery
• Falsely accused
• Unjustly imprisoned
• Forgotten in chains

One might say that following God is no promise of an easy life.  Indeed, considering Joseph, following God can be anything but. 

However, read on to the rest of the story:

Genesis 45 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.  6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. [Italics added]

God’s promise is not an easy life; rather, it is to love us and to make things right in the end, whether in this present age or the in age to come.  Recall that:

• Joseph had to bear slavery and prison – to save Israel
• Jesus had to bear the cross – to save all of us

Adversity is not a sign that God has somehow failed.  Adversity is not a sign that God really doesn’t care.  Actually, adversity might just be the very plan of God.  Indeed, rather than abandonment, hardship may just mean that God has great confidence in you, confidence that you are sufficiently faithful to be part of his work here on earth.  

James 1 2 My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way,  3 for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. 4 Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

So then, look at adversity* as God’s investment in you, not his abandonment of you. God is not only working on you, but is saying that you are capable of handling it.  Adversity, then, is God's commentary on your capability.

Serious adversity?  That's one heck of a compliment.  

*Notes:  Suffering is suffering.  When a close friend or family member passes, it's not time to "put on a happy face."  Recall Jesus' reaction to the death of Lazarus:  "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). God asks us to be real.  When I quote James, "consider yourselves fortunate," I do not mean to take away from the reality of suffering; neither does God.  I presume suffering to be self evident.  When we are in the midst of suffering, we need no encouragement to feel miserable.  Where I need encouragement is – at some point when the overwhelming pain has subsided a bit – to remember that God is going somewhere with all this; that there is an order and a plan to the universe; and that I need to seek my part in his work.  Where I need encouragement is to remember, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose..." (Romans 8:28).

There will be a way

A reflection on Acts 27:9-44

20 The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. (Acts 27: 20 NLT)

Paul was a prisoner en route to Rome.  He had turned every previous legal appearance into an opportunity to proclaim Jesus.  Though a prisoner, Paul would soon be able to proclaim the gospel in the very heart of the great Roman Empire.

Given the importance of Paul’s mission, wouldn't we expect God to give him smooth sailing?  If someone is doing God’s will, surely God will open every door before them, right?  Perhaps not.  Rather than smooth sailing, Paul’s ship encountered a two week typhoon and was blown off course into the unknown. They were lost and didn't see the sun for days. Finally, they were shipwrecked and swam to an unknown island.

But God did not abandon Paul.  Indeed, God was there all along and had already revealed to Paul that he would spare everyone’s lives.  Through the terrible storm and shipwreck, not one life was lost.  The sailors on the ship spread the miraculous story of their deliverance, generating great interest that preceded Paul's arrival in Rome.  Paul made it to Rome and proclaimed Jesus there, without any persecution.  

Like Paul, lately I have felt adrift in a storm-tossed sea.  I was on a steady pace to retire.  Now, I don’t know how the economic storm may affect me.  My daughter was doing well in school.  Now, I don’t even know if there will even be school come fall.  I had a job I felt I could count on.  Now, who knows?  With the economy the way it is, how long might it be before I’m let go?  And if let go, how will I find work?  How will I feed my family? Being adrift in uncertain times is unsettling, to say the least.

But I draw great encouragement from Paul, my brother who went before me.  His “storms and shipwrecks” were real and many, yet God somehow brought him through.  So also will God be faithful to me.  By God’s grace, there will be a way.

Notes:  Originally written April 2020.  Slightly revised August 2022.

That which cannot be moved

 A reflection on Matthew 7:24 - 25 

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. (Matthew 7:24 – 25 NLT)

Recently, as I heard a sermon on Mt. 7:24 - 25, I had a vision of swirling mists. Everything was evanescent and insubstantial; nothing was solid; nothing could be counted on. Then, out of the swirling mists, came a solid foundation. The mists parted around the foundation; the foundation was impervious.

It struck me that the world today is like that vision. Those things I thought I could count on, my job, the routine of my day-to-day life, going to church, my government, the generally healthy US economy – all those things that I had thought steady – had suddenly been revealed for what they are: Insubstantial wisps subject to the vagaries of time. It occurred to me that the solid foundation in my vision was the one thing which could not be changed. It occurred to me that the solid foundation was God and his word.  

As the old hymn says: “There is no shadow of turning with thee; Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.” 

How good it is, in times like these, to be built on that which cannot be moved.

Notes:  Originally written in May 2020 amidst the uncertainty of the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic.  Slightly revised August 2022.