Quiet Time Challenge

Joseph unveils himself.  All this time, Joseph had simply been “messing” with his brothers and running them in circles.  Yes, his brothers, at times, were scared, confused, accused of wrong-doing, etc. but the person that was hurting the most was Joseph.  He was living a lie to his brothers.  He wasn’t being honest with who he was.

Think about this, isn’t it funny that when we keep bitterness in our heart toward another person that we end up feeling the worst.  I mean, don’t they deserve a little punishment?  Doesn’t it feel “good” to kick them a little bit since they kicked you first?  Let’s be honest in that sometimes it does feel good…look at Joseph, he probably didn’t feel much remorse with his first couple of encounters with his brothers.  He had that “your getting what you deserve” kind of attitude.  But in the end, who ended up feeling the most pain for those actions?  It was Joseph!  He allowed anger and resentment to infiltrate his heart.  He made an active choice to do feel that way.  However, he also experienced freedom when he revealed himself and stopped living a lie.  He allowed  himself to experience the joy he wanted for so long with his brothers.

Are there some dirty corners of your heart where resentment / anger is being stored?  Why not do a little house cleaning on your heart.  The butler is just a prayer away.

In this chapter, Judah has a large amount of integrity and respect for his brother and his father.  He made a commitment to his father and if that meant he needed to stay as a slave in place of his brother then, so be it.  What’s funny is that you don’t see his other brothers stepping up to take the blame or “lumps” for their youngest brother.   Of course, they didn’t make the commitment to their father either.

This is a short one.  Joseph is still toying with his brothers.  He knows them, but he hasn’t revealed himself yet.  If you read the chapter, you’ll notice that he has them running in circles a bit.  Is this right or wrong from God’s perspective?  Any takers?

It’s funny how we can, at times, think that people of great influence or power or leadership are void of the regular “moments of weakness” that we mere mortals deal with on a daily basis.  In this chapter, we get a chance to see Joseph in one of those “moments” that quite honestly, most people probably read over as they read this chapter because our minds immediately gravitate to the single word “justification”.  If you read carefully you’ll see Joseph possibly abusing his position of power to throw his brothers into jail.  As his brothers were asking for grain, Joseph recognized them, but they didn’t recognize him.  Based on his immediate reaction, I think he had a moment of weakness….he claimed them to be spies, threw them into jail and said that if they produced his younger brother he would let them go free.  After they were ALL thrown into jail, they sat there for 3 days…and Joseph cooled off.  He told them that all of them could go free except one and they they must produce his young brother.  Possibly a little change of heart?  Maybe he had a conversation with God over those 3 days.  At any rate, up until this point you would think Joseph was a perfect person, never doing anything wrong, etc.  This proves that he IS human and just like me.

This makes me think of my pastor, Bryan Mills.  I’ve known Bryan for quite some time and he is probably one of the most admired and respected persons that I know.  He is #1 on a short list of people who have great influence over me and my life.  Although I know better, he appears invincible, void of any bad thoughts…always making the right decisions, never having a bad day….however, he is human…and so is Joseph.  The difference is that the Bible speaks of Joseph’s weak moment….maybe someone should write a book about Bryan’s.  Bryan, can we have lunch this week….I’ll bring my paper and pen. :)  Love ya man!!

Joseph is made ruler over all of Egypt.  In this chapter the pendulum swings and Joseph is blessed with great responsibility over Egypt.  If you didn’t know God was involved, you would say this was a good win for the under dog.  However, God’s hand is all over it.  Isn’t it just like God to take a ordinary person and raise him to a great position if that person will just BELIEVE and have FAITH in God and in the skills and abilities God placed specifically in them.  I love God stories!

The moral of the story is this….regardless of the road we travel, there is a plan for your life that was designed by God.  Everyone has a role of GREAT RESPONSIBILITY…and it’s not always in the form of great leadership or governing countries.  Tell me this, who’s life / impact is more important from God’s perspective….the man/woman leading an entire country or the “ordinary” man/woman leading the people he/she loves to Christ and living as a great example?  The answer is both…because God didn’t design everyone to be a great leader.  He designed some of us to have equal impact in our direct world.  Actually, he called all of us to have an impact on our direct world.

Are you living the life God designed you to live?  If not, is it because you haven’t “figured it out”?  Let me remind you that Joseph never “figured it out”, he just had faith that God would lead him where he needed to go as long as he kept the faith.  He did, and God used it.  Keep the faith my friend….keep the faith.

This chapter is about preparation and perseverance.  Joseph was called out of prison (years after interpreting the dreams of the chief cup bearer) to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.  He did interpret his dream and gave specific suggestions on how to overcome the result of the dream.  Although I seem to find multiple things to focus on in each chapter, I will focus on something that probaby gets overlooked quite often by people reading this chapter.As Joseph was called in to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, Pharaoh says to Joseph “….But I have heard that you can interpret dreams, and that is why I have called for you.”  Joseph responds, “It is beyond my power to do this, But God will tell you what it means and will set you at ease.”  Joseph gave God the credit, on the spot.  He didn’t say “Yeah, you picked the right guy.  I am a really good interpreter….hey, look at me….me me me.”

I’d like to know how many of us take that approach on a daily basis.  This topic hits a little close to home, as do most topics I choose to write about in this blog.  It’s not that I go around saying “Hey, look at me….me me me”, but I rarely give credit where credit is due.  It is so easy to take God’s credit for the skills and abilities he has built directly into you.

Has anyone recently been faced with this realization?  What was your response?  Any stories you’d like to share?

In this chapter, Joseph begins using one of his many talents (dream interpretation) to which God blessed him. As we know already, Joseph was thrown into prison. While he was there, he was put in charge of the chief cup bearer and the chief baker who where put into prison for offending Pharaoh. One night, both of them had a dream. The next morning both looked dejected so Joseph asks, “what gives”? The chief cup bearer told Joseph about his dream and got some good news…he would be released and restored to his prior position in three days. The chief baker heard the interpretation and asked Joseph to interpret his dream. Unfortunately, Joseph had bad news for the chief baker. In three days his head would be cut off and his body would be impaled on a pole. In return for his interpretation, Joseph asked the chief cup bearer to remember him once he was released and restored. Unfortunately the chief cup bearer was released and quickly forgot about Joseph. Joseph remained in prison for another two years.

So, up until this point Joseph appears to be the kind of guy, who will take the shirt off of his back and give it to anyone in need. A self-less attitude of service. He appears to do everything right, only to be left out, forgotten, wrongly accused and trampled on. Think for a moment on how you might respond to the events of your life if you were in Joseph’s shoes. Although the text never indicates it, I’m sure Joseph had moments of looking up to the sky and asking “WHAT GIVES”? Remember, although the text never says that he questioned God we must also remember that Joseph is human and has human nature. He is not perfect, he probably did have moments of doubt.  I’m sure he didn’t “get it” all the time …. no one does. But he did have on thing that carried him through….FAITH.

You might be experiencing a bit of a “Joseph life moment” right now. Where you know you are in the middle of God’s will but it doesn’t seem to make any sense. The thing I love about God’s plan for my life is that the path from point A to point Z is usually unconventional.

I have a specific example in my life that relates directly to Joseph’s story. First, let me state….I am an entrepreneur. I love having flexibility and independence but also love the challenge of hard-work and not limiting myself to what another person or organization will allow me to achieve I’m a gamer…and I love game time!

I have always had this desire….this inner entrepreneurial burning to be a business owner. I never really knew what it would look like or what it would do, but I wanted the challenge and I have felt for some time that I was ready for this challenge….well….God knew otherwise. Although God has given me the gift of entrepreneurialism he had to take me through a growing and learning process. This started back in 2000 when I worked for a company, which promised my own franchise, selling promotions for large companies door-to-door. I was good…and sold a lot…but that was not what God had in store for me at that time. The winter was brutal that year, no one would open their door, so I had to find a job. Unlike Joseph, I was disappointed…because I thought I was ready at the ripe old age of 21 to run a franchise. God had other plans.

I then took a job over the next several years. I earned many promotions, lead/finished many projects for a couple organizations to earn those positions and learned the skills needed to be successful. I treated each responsibility as it if were my own business and my family and livelihood depended on it. Most of them were successful, and for those that were not, they didn’t go down without a fight. In 2003, I accepted Christ and there were many areas of my life that changed…..family, lifestyle, attitude…however allowing God to lead my life was the most important and it plays the biggest role in where my life is today.

In short, I spent about 1 more year with Commerce Bank and was tired of hitting the ceiling. There were no other opportunities for growth without moving to another city. I knew it was time to move on. I spent time searching for a consulting position and found one with a company in South County with offices in Ste. Genevieve. It looked perfect….closer drive, offices right down the road from Farmington, upgraded position….it was comfortable….life was great. After three months of employment…..BAM…..”we no longer need your services”. Yep, I lost my job. No longer than I got my new job…I lost it…just like that. Let me tell you, at that moment Amy and I were in the process of buying a house….losing your job while buying a house is a bad thing to say the least. That was one of those moments when I looked up and told God, “Hey, life was going so well and then this happens….WHAT GIVES”? I started looking for a job, found one in one week for a company in West County. The drive was a longer…but they allowed you dress casual, had a bonus program (which I loved and allowed me to be somewhat in control of what I earned) and I felt this sense of “you should take it because it is right for you”. At that point I couldn’t tell whether that was God or my conscious saying “you just lost your job, idiot, take it”. Although I now know the result of that decision I think it was both.

I took that job and have spent the last 1 1/2 years there. During that time I had the opportunity to meet some incredible people, one of which is now my business partner. Two weeks ago, on, October 12 I put in my final day at that company to join forces with my business partners with our company called Pixel IQ. By God’s grace, I finally made it. I’m a full-time business owner. Let me tell you, if I’ve ever felt God’s “stamp of approval” on my life it is right now. I know this is where God wants me to be, for now.

The point of my story in relation to Joseph’s is patience and growth. Through my work life God was growing me and preparing me for something more….something more like what he designed me for. When I lost my job….he asked me to trust him. When he told me to take the longer drive job to west county….he asked me to obey him. Through that I am now seeing God’s reward on my life. What will be the next step…..who knows….but I’ve never felt more in the game than I do now.

In this chapter, Joseph makes it to Egypt and is sold to Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharaoh.  After some time with Potiphar, Joseph continued to gain more and more authority over Potiphar’s belongings and household matters.  God was blessing everything that Joseph touched.  Over time, the responsibility and rights that Joseph had were to everything other than Potiphar’s wife.  Ironically, this is where the problems for Joseph began to develop.  Joseph was a good-looking guy.  Naturally, the ladies like him…including Potiphar’s wife.  Time and time again she would proposition him to sleep with her and each time he would deny her out of respect for God and for his master Potiphar.  She didn’t like it!  One day she propositioned him vigorously.  He pulled away ripping his shirt off of his back, she screamed to make it look like he raped her, Potiphar was ticked, and Joseph was wrongfully thrown into prison.

Although he was in prison, it didn’t take long before the chief jailer saw favor in Joseph and began to allow Joseph to run the operation.  God was with Joseph, even in prison.  Joseph made everything run smoothly.

The thing that struck me most about Joseph and this chapter was that Joseph “stuck to his guns” when being propositioned by Potiphar’s wife time and time again.  He was in the middle of God’s will for his life and then comes along a distraction or temptation.  How many of us can relate to this story?  You’re in the middle of God’s will and then BAM! there is something to derail or distract you.  You can choose to accept the temptation or recognize it as a temptation and avoid it.  The choice is yours….remember free will?

Here is another point.  Don’t try to figure out why God allows certain things to happen if you are in the middle of his will.  How many of us would think think that if we were doing everything that God wanted and were in the middle of his will then all of a sudden we were thrown into prison for no wrong-doing that it is God’s will for our lives at that time.  We all would probably throw ourselves a nice little pity party, wouldn’t we.  However, if we are REALLY in the middle of God’s will, then we should realize that all things happen for a reason and that they are designed to grow us and get us to where God wants us to be.

I lost my job once so that God could take me one step closer to his will for my life.  It sure didn’t feel like it at the time, however looking back I can see that God’s hand was all over that situation.

Do you have any examples of how God “rocked your world” to take you one step closer to his will for your life?

Read Genesis 40:1-23 for tomorrow.

The only thing I can say is, I’m sorry!  I apologize for allowing this blog to become so outdated and stale.  This is a result of life getting in the way and me allowing it happen without applying some priority.  This is my fault (obviously) and I apologize to you, but most importantly to God.  God and I have been chatting about it and we are “good to go”.  He always good for spreading His grace around like that.  God is one cool cat!!

This chapter begins the story of Joseph and his rise to power, via an unconventional method.  I’ve read this story a few times and find new and interesting things each time.  It’s kind of like watching a complex movie and each time you watch it you say “Oh, I didn’t even see that before”.

In this chapter, the naive Joseph, was given a couple of dreams that he communicated to his brothers (who didn’t like him at all due to  their father’s partiality) and his father Jacob.  All of his dreams were related to things (that represented people) bowing down to him as if he were the king.  Naturally, that did not resonate well with his brothers, nor his father.  However, at least Jacob gave it some thought.

Long story short, his brothers now hated and wanted to kill him.  They threw him in a pit, to then take him out and sell him to a caravan of travelers going to Egypt.  They dipped his coat in blood and returned it to their father Jacob, who was destroyed by his son’s apparent death.  Jacob mourned for days.  His brothers got away with “getting rid” of Joseph….or so they thought.  Joseph, well, he was on his way to Egypt with a group of people he had never met and was just sold to these people by his brothers.  Needless to say, if he believed God gave him these dreams, he was probably thinking…”OK, God, you just gave me these dreams where it appears that I will be leading people to the point of them bowing down to me.  Yet, I was just sold to a group of travelers going to Egypt.  I’m a little lost on where your plan is going…..want to fill me in.”

Here is what I believe, and this is from my own experience.  I believe that some short term pain or wondering is a great way to prepare you for great things.  The big problem is that people want to feel sorry for themselves and stay in that moment versus keeping the situation in context and realize that this may a part of God’s plan that you do not understand.  As I say this, I am speaking to myself more than anyone…because I have fell victim to this more than I would like to admit.  The only way you (may) understand is if you look back at some later date and realize the series of events that lead you to where you are.  At that moment you may understand the process or should I say how God’s plan has been evolving.  I have a specific example of how this happened to me.  I felt a little like Joseph.  I’d love to share the example, but can’t….at least for a few more weeks.

Have any of you faced a situation where you said “OK, God, what gives?  How does this fit in with your plan for my life?”

OK, so I read these chapters on Wednesday, and I am just now posting them on Saturday……..it’s been one of those weeks [actually about 2 weeks]. Have you ever had one of those? I’m sure glad it is over!

Now, enough belly-aching, moving on…..

Although there are a multitude of points to be made from these chapters [it feels like I say that every time I write, but it is true], I will focus on one, very important, piece of scripture. I could talk about chapter 30, renamed to “The Chapter on Marital Prostitution”, or I could write about Jacob’s return to his childhood home and Laban’s pursuit of Jacob, his daughters and his grandchildren. But the one piece of scripture that sticks out at me the most was the reunion of Jacob and Esau. It’s a story of obedience and grace……

As we all remember, Jacob blatantly stole Esau’s blessing from their father Issac before he fled to his Uncle Laban’s home over 14 years before this return home. Esau was the rough and tough brother and Jacob was the mama’s boy. Esau threatened to kill Jacob before he fled, so naturally Jacob was a little nervous returning home. However, he was doing exactly as the Lord asked him to do, which was to return to his childhood homeland.

Jacob continued on his was home, sending gifts to Esau as he went [in hopes of appeasing him before they met]. Finally, a report came back from some of Jacob’s servants saying that Esau was coming to meet Jacob and he had 400 men with him. Naturally, Jacob was nervous. Finally, Jacob saw Esau and his 400 men coming in the distance to meet them.

Picture this, Jacob lines up his family members, concubines, etc to “shield” himself from the wrath of his brother. He begins bowing to Esau and does it seven times. Then he looks up and sees Esau running at him…….he gets closer….and closer…..then…….SMACK!….he lays a big old kiss on Jacob. Esau embraced his brother Jacob as you would a relative you have not seen in 14 years. Can you say, unexpected response. Time had passed, Esau had lost his anger towards his brother Jacob.

Although the text doesn’t say this, I’ll assume that conversation between Jacob and Esau went a little something like this…….”Esau, I’m really glad to see you, I thought you were going to kill me.” Esau replied, “Nah, I just thought it would be funny if I ran at you. You always were a sissy boy. Even though I’m no longer mad at you, I thought it would be funny to watch your cringe a little before I kissed you.” Jacob responded, “Ha, uh, yeah, funny man! Could you excuse me one moment while I run to my tent and change my robe? I’ve wet myself.”

In all seriousness, there is an important point to be made from this story. If God asks you to do something, DO IT and leave the details up to God. Have you ever been put into a situation where God asked you to do something and you say “Yes”? Then immediately after you say “Yes” things begin to look like you made the wrong decision. Typically because we operate under the impression that if God asks us to do it then it will be easy. Think about this story, God told Jacob to go back to his homeland. The entire trip home Jacob must have been saying to himself, “OK, God asked me to do this……everyone is grumbling in my camp, my brother Esau is coming to meet me with 400 men, that must mean he still wants to kill me. Oh, and I have tons of children, 2 wives, couple of concubines, a bunch of money, animals, and stuff. Hey, look here comes my brother Esau running at me like a crazed maniac, I’m gonna die, 3….2…..1……kiss. Oh, that is why God wanted me to go…..Oh, I get it now.” What if Jacob had backed out half way through the trip? History would have been changed.

If you have ever said “YES” to God and it wasn’t easy, I’m sure you have had many prayers to God similar to Jacob’s prayer in chapter 32:9-12. And it is OK to have prayers like this. God doesn’t expect us to understand WHY, his just wants us to say YES. The why will come later, in most cases.

Is God prompting you to do something and you just need to say YES? In good Nike spirit I’ll give you one instruction, JUST DO IT!

Thanks for letting me have a little fun with this post.

Next time, read Genesis 37:1-36