Joseph Shows me God

I wrote this in participation to Bev's Monday group, "Cover to Cover"

One of my favorite characters in the Bible is Joseph. The story of his life gives me hope and not only that, but a greater understanding into the ways of God.
Joseph was called at a very young age. He had a vision of what God was going to do with him. The problem was, his flesh was stronger than his spirit.
After all he was the favored son, who stayed back at the house in his special coat while his brothers were all sent out to work the fields. He was essentially
a spoiled rotten brat. Can you just imagine the rivalry that surfaced in his brothers when they returned home after a long, hard day of work? His father's favoritism
became his demise.

God knew exactly where Joseph was. He was never forgotten. Through slavery, prison, being in a foreign land alone, he was never forgotten.

The roads God leads us on don't often make sense. We see others around us thriving in life, while all the while we wonder where God has disappeared to.
I can only imagine what Joseph went through. Innocent and in prison, away from family, an alien in a distant country, he must have questioned, where is the God of
my fathers?

He tried to get out of his assignment early. When the cupbearer and baker found themselves imprisoned, God orchestrated a meeting with Joseph
to interpret their dreams. Don't you think Joseph thought finally the time of his release was imminent? But TWO YEARS passed before it came to pass.
Do you think He became hopeless, resigned to just spend the rest of his life in prison? Do you ever wonder if things will break through in your life? Have
you experienced so much hope deferred and heartsickness that you find yourself in resignation?

I can so relate to this story on so many levels. How many times has it appeared that FINALLY our circumstances were going to change, to find out they didn't?
Like the time when my husband finally got a job. I thought for sure that God had turned our bitter waters of joblessness to sweet waters. It wasn't what I thought.
Working 65 hours a week, on the 3rd worse route in the company, making thousands less than we needed to live on, I could feel the weightiness of life. It wasn't
deliverance like we expected, or was it? It was so hard to hang on and not give up at times. We didn't really understand it all. Where was God? Didn't He see us?
Didn't He care about us? Like Joseph, we longed to escape the prison of that job.

But God had His way in prison for Joseph, just as He had His way in our lives during the job of bitter waters. I think those last 2 years Joseph finally surrendered,
completely. At least that is what happened to us. It wasn't about the job for us, just like it wasn't about prison for Joseph. Those were just the outlets that God used
to refine us. It was about our hearts. God wanted our hearts surrendered, willing to be where He had us, trusting Him with our lives, our finances, our future.
There was much on the line for Joseph, whether he knew it or not. His heart had to be in a place of full surrender and emptiness of himself, his control, and his pride
in order to fulfill the destiny of God. He would be the 2nd most powerful man in Egpyt. He would be set in a position to save the nation of Israel from dying during the famine.
He had to be ready to handle the success. Prison was the "boot camp" preparing him for his mission.

One morning Joseph woke up and the prison gates opened for him. He was called out before the Pharoah. I love what it says about him. The Pharoah
said, "there is no one on whom the Spirit of God rests, like Joseph" (my paraphrase). The transformation was complete...Joseph was a new creation, living
in the Spirit, walking with God. In prison, Joseph found God.

We don't often understand the ways of God. Most of the time they just plain don't make sense. But in the midst of them God allows us to see those shakable
things in our lives that hold us back from living in the new creation He has called us to be. It's not about the circumstances, it's not about being punished,
It's not even the enemy. It is God after our hearts, preparing us to fulfill the destiny that has been set aside for us before the foundations of the world.

The circumstances, like Joseph's prison are God's sandpaper, smoothing off the rough places, restoring us to the way we were always meant to be.

I love the story of Joseph, probably because it makes my life feel somewhat normal. It gives me hope that God is about His business when things don't make
sense.

Be blessed,
Jewelz