Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it; and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” (Genesis 41: 14-16)
How often are we asked to perform with very little preparation? When this happens, it’s not unusual to lose one’s cool or to experience a case of “the nerves.” I experienced this over and over as a substitute teacher, setting foot into a strange classroom, with very little time to read the instructions the teacher had left for me. All too often I was still absorbing it all when the first students began to enter.
When Joseph was brought out of the dungeon, he was given little preparation before he found himself in front of Pharaoh, the king of all Egypt. With little preamble, Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret a dream for him. Joseph was on the spot. The Bible doesn’t reveal whether Joseph experienced a case of “the nerves.” What it does tell us is that his response was one of faith and trust in God.
It doesn’t really matter whether Joseph was nervous. He interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and Pharaoh was pleased. Joseph was able to succeed not because he was given time to freshen up and prepare himself mentally, or because he’d practiced interpreting dreams over and over again and he was an expert at it. He was able to succeed because he was right with God and because he trusted God to lead him.
Joseph handled the task Pharaoh gave him by resting in his relationship with God and trusting in His promises. We can accomplish so much when we trust in the promises of God that are ours through Jesus Christ. As a full-time teacher now, I have discovered that there are still days when the unexpected occurs and I don’t have much time to prepare myself before I’m “on the spot.” But during these times it helps me to remember Joseph’s response to Pharaoh. As my daughter’s International Children’s Bible translation puts it: “God will do this.”
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Greatest Commandment
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) With these words, Jesus summed up the first four commandments, teaching us how to approach our relationship with God. We often lose sight of this when we’re in the midst of difficulty and trial, but these are the times when we need these words the most.
One of those times of difficulty and trial is when our children are sick. When they are young, kids can’t articulate exactly what’s bothering them. Other than the obvious outward signs of sickness, the only way we know something is not right with them is when they tell us “My tummy hurts,” or “I don’t feel good.” Combine this lack of specifics with a parent’s natural instinct to care for their child and one has the recipe for faltering trust in the promises of God. That faltering trust can lead us to a form of idolatry centered on our kids. When things get to this point, sometimes our best effort to keep the greatest commandment is to say something like, “Okay, God, I love You; now please make my child well.”
We know this is not how it works. We cannot achieve blessing through our own efforts to keep God’s law; because of our depravity, our efforts are doomed to fail. But we can look to Christ. Because the wrath of the Father that we deserved to suffer for our sins was poured out on Him, we can trust that God will deal with us gracefully. Even in times of sickness, because His justice has been satisfied, we can trust in God’s good purposes for us. Because Christ loved the Father perfectly and died in our place, we can love the Lord with all our hearts, our souls and our minds through Him.
One of those times of difficulty and trial is when our children are sick. When they are young, kids can’t articulate exactly what’s bothering them. Other than the obvious outward signs of sickness, the only way we know something is not right with them is when they tell us “My tummy hurts,” or “I don’t feel good.” Combine this lack of specifics with a parent’s natural instinct to care for their child and one has the recipe for faltering trust in the promises of God. That faltering trust can lead us to a form of idolatry centered on our kids. When things get to this point, sometimes our best effort to keep the greatest commandment is to say something like, “Okay, God, I love You; now please make my child well.”
We know this is not how it works. We cannot achieve blessing through our own efforts to keep God’s law; because of our depravity, our efforts are doomed to fail. But we can look to Christ. Because the wrath of the Father that we deserved to suffer for our sins was poured out on Him, we can trust that God will deal with us gracefully. Even in times of sickness, because His justice has been satisfied, we can trust in God’s good purposes for us. Because Christ loved the Father perfectly and died in our place, we can love the Lord with all our hearts, our souls and our minds through Him.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Child of Abraham
According to my Life Application Study Bible, “God has no grandchildren.” I discovered this novel insight as I read about Jacob leaving Beer-sheba for Haran. Jacob dreamed one night during the journey of a ladder that reached to Heaven. There he saw God, who repeated the covenant promise He had made to Isaac, Jacob’s father, and Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather.
Why was it necessary for God to repeat His promise to Jacob? Surely the words of that promise had reached the young man through his father and grandfather. Was Jacob’s faith in the promises of God as communicated to him through Isaac and Abraham so weak that God had to reveal Himself in this way and reiterate His promise?
It was necessary for God to repeat His promise to Jacob. Not because Jacob’s faith was weak, or because Isaac and Abraham did a bad job of communicating that promise to him. It was because God seeks a personal relationship with all of us. When God revealed Himself to Jacob and reiterated His promise, it was His way of saying, “Jacob, its time for you to know me personally.” The fact that God had promised to make Abraham and his descendants into a great nation was one thing; now God was calling Jacob to play his own, unique part in that promise.
As a father, I want to pass on to my daughter the love God has revealed to me through Jesus Christ. But I also know that whether I do so well or poorly, ultimately it is up to God to reveal Himself to her. She cannot be God’s granddaughter; I pray that He will reveal himself and the promises He has made through Christ to her personally. I long for a day when God’s promises will no longer reach her through me or the other adult Christians in her life. I long for a day when she herself becomes a child of Abraham.
Why was it necessary for God to repeat His promise to Jacob? Surely the words of that promise had reached the young man through his father and grandfather. Was Jacob’s faith in the promises of God as communicated to him through Isaac and Abraham so weak that God had to reveal Himself in this way and reiterate His promise?
It was necessary for God to repeat His promise to Jacob. Not because Jacob’s faith was weak, or because Isaac and Abraham did a bad job of communicating that promise to him. It was because God seeks a personal relationship with all of us. When God revealed Himself to Jacob and reiterated His promise, it was His way of saying, “Jacob, its time for you to know me personally.” The fact that God had promised to make Abraham and his descendants into a great nation was one thing; now God was calling Jacob to play his own, unique part in that promise.
As a father, I want to pass on to my daughter the love God has revealed to me through Jesus Christ. But I also know that whether I do so well or poorly, ultimately it is up to God to reveal Himself to her. She cannot be God’s granddaughter; I pray that He will reveal himself and the promises He has made through Christ to her personally. I long for a day when God’s promises will no longer reach her through me or the other adult Christians in her life. I long for a day when she herself becomes a child of Abraham.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
This Is From The Lord
I was struck by the response of Rebekah’s family in Genesis 24 when Eliezer came and asked to take her to be the wife of Isaac. Eliezer described to them in detail how God had led him to the well where he met Rebekah and how God had answered his prayer to make his journey a success. He asked the girl’s family if they’d allow her to leave with him or not. Their response was: “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed."
Eliezer had already told Rebekah’s family that his master was Abraham, who the Lord had “blessed…abundantly.” He’d already explained that God had given Abraham “sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.” (Genesis 24:35) He had brought ten of Abraham’s camels, along with silver, gold and other precious things which one can guess the girl’s family were aware of, given that they took such good care of him as he entered their home. We discover later that Laban, Rebekah's brother, tended to make decisions based on how he himself would benefit from the circumstances and that's probably what he was doing here. But they framed their response as if it was not measured in terms of what they’d receive for agreeing to let Rebekah leave.
It looked like things might change the next day; the family hesitated when the time came for Rebekah to actually depart. Don’t we all second-guess ourselves sometimes after making a decision to act in a certain way; don’t we sometimes reconsider when the full magnitude of that decision is upon us? Even when overcome by the desire to see God’s purposes fulfilled, when it’s finally time to act on our promises, often our confidence wavers. When Rebekah’s family’s confidence wavered, they deferred to Rebekah herself. This is significant, because it seemed as if they were neither motivated by the reward they received for letting her go, nor by the desire to please themselves by going back on their word and insisting that she stay. They seemed to trust Rebekah with the decision and seemed to love her enough to abide by her decision.
When we begin second-guessing the difficult decisions we make, how often do we love God enough to defer to Him and abide in His purposes? It’s easy to offer to step outside of our comfort zones. Actually doing it is when we need Christ the most. His trust in the purposes of His Father was the perfect example for us. Despite the severity of His suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, He deferred to the will of His Father, knowing the goodness of His purposes. As He sweated drops of blood and faced death, He trusted in the good purposes of His Father; through His sacrifice we can trust that, when the weight of our decisions is upon us, this, too, is from the Lord.
Eliezer had already told Rebekah’s family that his master was Abraham, who the Lord had “blessed…abundantly.” He’d already explained that God had given Abraham “sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.” (Genesis 24:35) He had brought ten of Abraham’s camels, along with silver, gold and other precious things which one can guess the girl’s family were aware of, given that they took such good care of him as he entered their home. We discover later that Laban, Rebekah's brother, tended to make decisions based on how he himself would benefit from the circumstances and that's probably what he was doing here. But they framed their response as if it was not measured in terms of what they’d receive for agreeing to let Rebekah leave.
It looked like things might change the next day; the family hesitated when the time came for Rebekah to actually depart. Don’t we all second-guess ourselves sometimes after making a decision to act in a certain way; don’t we sometimes reconsider when the full magnitude of that decision is upon us? Even when overcome by the desire to see God’s purposes fulfilled, when it’s finally time to act on our promises, often our confidence wavers. When Rebekah’s family’s confidence wavered, they deferred to Rebekah herself. This is significant, because it seemed as if they were neither motivated by the reward they received for letting her go, nor by the desire to please themselves by going back on their word and insisting that she stay. They seemed to trust Rebekah with the decision and seemed to love her enough to abide by her decision.
When we begin second-guessing the difficult decisions we make, how often do we love God enough to defer to Him and abide in His purposes? It’s easy to offer to step outside of our comfort zones. Actually doing it is when we need Christ the most. His trust in the purposes of His Father was the perfect example for us. Despite the severity of His suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, He deferred to the will of His Father, knowing the goodness of His purposes. As He sweated drops of blood and faced death, He trusted in the good purposes of His Father; through His sacrifice we can trust that, when the weight of our decisions is upon us, this, too, is from the Lord.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Sixth Commandment and the Stomach Flu
In the community group I belong to we recently discussed the Sixth Commandment. We talked about why “You shall not murder” is a better translation of Exodus 20:13 than “You shall not kill.” We considered how Jesus, in Matthew 5:21-24, extended the meaning of this commandment to apply to our attitudes and not just our actions. We discovered that we all tended to have the kind of attitudes and thoughts Jesus was referring to in that passage at one time or another.
We agreed that the reason we give place to those feelings and attitudes is because of our short-sightedness regarding the purposes of God. We often don’t understand how God is using that inconsiderate driver who cuts us off on the expressway; we don’t understand His purpose for allowing contention to exist between ourselves and our friends and relatives. It’s extremely difficult to be in the midst of a toddler’s temper tantrum and understand that God has a purpose for all of it.
Reminded of God’s unseen purposes as I prepared for church the next morning, I considered the unseen purposes God might have for the “stomach flu” my family had recently suffered through. My response to it fell far short of the faithful response God requires in situations like this. Selfishness, self-pity and fear- these and more are the ways I responded, all the time knowing that I was only complicating God’s purposes.
I was struck, then, how God still works His purposes through us, even though we are so deeply flawed and our responses often so disobedient. Because of the sacrifice of His only Son, our flaws and our disobedience are covered. Christ intercedes for us, covering our imperfections with His own perfection. Christ makes it so that our righteous God’s purposes are carried out through us, even as we complicate things.
Our thoughts and attitudes often betray our lack of understanding of the purposes God has for us. It is a great relief, then, to know that through Christ, those same thoughts and attitudes do not form the basis on which our value to God is judged.
We agreed that the reason we give place to those feelings and attitudes is because of our short-sightedness regarding the purposes of God. We often don’t understand how God is using that inconsiderate driver who cuts us off on the expressway; we don’t understand His purpose for allowing contention to exist between ourselves and our friends and relatives. It’s extremely difficult to be in the midst of a toddler’s temper tantrum and understand that God has a purpose for all of it.
Reminded of God’s unseen purposes as I prepared for church the next morning, I considered the unseen purposes God might have for the “stomach flu” my family had recently suffered through. My response to it fell far short of the faithful response God requires in situations like this. Selfishness, self-pity and fear- these and more are the ways I responded, all the time knowing that I was only complicating God’s purposes.
I was struck, then, how God still works His purposes through us, even though we are so deeply flawed and our responses often so disobedient. Because of the sacrifice of His only Son, our flaws and our disobedience are covered. Christ intercedes for us, covering our imperfections with His own perfection. Christ makes it so that our righteous God’s purposes are carried out through us, even as we complicate things.
Our thoughts and attitudes often betray our lack of understanding of the purposes God has for us. It is a great relief, then, to know that through Christ, those same thoughts and attitudes do not form the basis on which our value to God is judged.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Unto Noah
I had never considered how Noah and his family gathered together all the animals that God commanded him to take into the ark. Then two words struck me in the King James Version of the flood account I was reading the other night: unto Noah. Noah and his family boarded the ark and the animals and creatures followed, two by two, unto Noah. My six year old daughter’s version of the International Children’s Bible translates that phrase as “came to Noah.” There seemed to have been no problem getting the animals into the ark. They just came to Noah. The study notes for that passage in my Life Application Study Bible cleared things up: God took care of the details of getting the animals to Noah.
How would this account have been different if Noah had become anxious over the details of God’s plan? God didn’t tell Noah to go get the animals; He told Noah to build the ark and take the animals with him. Would there have been time to complete the ark if Noah and his sons became preoccupied with trying to ensure that enough animals were gathered rather than simply obeying God’s command to build?
How often do we worry about the details of our lives? How many blessings do we miss out on because we are caught up in the details rather than accomplishing that which God has given us to accomplish? Jesus did not ask us to stress out over the details of our salvation. He gave us a command: believe. He handled the details and our salvation came unto us.
How would this account have been different if Noah had become anxious over the details of God’s plan? God didn’t tell Noah to go get the animals; He told Noah to build the ark and take the animals with him. Would there have been time to complete the ark if Noah and his sons became preoccupied with trying to ensure that enough animals were gathered rather than simply obeying God’s command to build?
How often do we worry about the details of our lives? How many blessings do we miss out on because we are caught up in the details rather than accomplishing that which God has given us to accomplish? Jesus did not ask us to stress out over the details of our salvation. He gave us a command: believe. He handled the details and our salvation came unto us.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Our Accomplishments
God did not need to create the universe. He chose to create it. It delighted Him to do so and He was pleased with the good- very good- results. Then He took the time to rest in His accomplishment.
That makes me think of the creativity He blessed us with. Unfortunately, as a result of the rebellion of Adam and Eve, our desire to create is twisted and imperfect. The accomplishments we find ourselves pleased with are all too often empty and our pleasure in them fades quickly. Sometimes, we don’t even take the time to rest in our accomplishments, as God did in His, before we are pursuing the next thing we have convinced ourselves we need to accomplish.
Can we find lasting pleasure in our own accomplishments? If our desire to create is imperfect, how can anything that results be something in which we can rest in and truly be pleased with? Is it okay to be pleased with our own accomplishments when we perceive them to be good?
God has given us the freedom to choose either to glorify Him or fall short of His glory through our accomplishments. All my life I’ve desired to be either an artist or a writer. I have found that I lack a certain amount of perseverance: after a while, I begin to question whether my creations are worthy of even seeing the light of day, whether they will hold up against that which already exists or against that which inspired them.
God did not question His act of creation. He purposed that it would be, He accomplished it and He was pleased with it. Of course He was pleased: He is perfect, so His creation was perfect. We are not perfect, so our own creations suffer.
We need to focus on God and honor Him with our accomplishments. We should not persevere to please ourselves or to glorify ourselves: we should persevere to glorify God. It’s okay to be pleased with our accomplishments when they properly honor our Heavenly Father.
That makes me think of the creativity He blessed us with. Unfortunately, as a result of the rebellion of Adam and Eve, our desire to create is twisted and imperfect. The accomplishments we find ourselves pleased with are all too often empty and our pleasure in them fades quickly. Sometimes, we don’t even take the time to rest in our accomplishments, as God did in His, before we are pursuing the next thing we have convinced ourselves we need to accomplish.
Can we find lasting pleasure in our own accomplishments? If our desire to create is imperfect, how can anything that results be something in which we can rest in and truly be pleased with? Is it okay to be pleased with our own accomplishments when we perceive them to be good?
God has given us the freedom to choose either to glorify Him or fall short of His glory through our accomplishments. All my life I’ve desired to be either an artist or a writer. I have found that I lack a certain amount of perseverance: after a while, I begin to question whether my creations are worthy of even seeing the light of day, whether they will hold up against that which already exists or against that which inspired them.
God did not question His act of creation. He purposed that it would be, He accomplished it and He was pleased with it. Of course He was pleased: He is perfect, so His creation was perfect. We are not perfect, so our own creations suffer.
We need to focus on God and honor Him with our accomplishments. We should not persevere to please ourselves or to glorify ourselves: we should persevere to glorify God. It’s okay to be pleased with our accomplishments when they properly honor our Heavenly Father.
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