Women of Warren Vlog – Joseph’s Example

good morning so I heard a while back as I was going through a parenting Bible study the recommendation for Christian parents to often repeat stories to their children from the Bible like the story of Joseph and the story of Job stories of characters in the Bible who got really raw deals in life and the way that they responded. The concept that was presented was to parents that if our children hear these stories often and they see the way these righteous men of God responded to hardship in their lives, that their own little hearts would be less undone when the hard circumstances of life hit that they would be less rattled by the unexpected curveballs that come their way. We know in the gospels that Jesus said in this world you will have trouble and so that idea of not being caught off guard when something hard happens and while that's certainly true for my children it's true for my heart. So in light of that my family has been revisiting the story of Joseph. We've been going over that and so it has been very fresh on my mind here lately and the Lord's just used it to remind me of some important things and reveal some new depths of truth to me as well. But I heard this question presented the other week and something I was reading and I just thought it fit perfectly in with the story of Joseph and that is that how do I respond to hard things in life? Basically, does my response to what is happening in my life, does it make worldly sense, or does it make sense in light of who God is? So I thought we'd look at the story of Joseph, specifically the end in Genesis 45, To give a little overview, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. He was sold into slavery, taken to Egypt, and then when he was in Egypt, it was time and time again where he was falsely accused and put in jail. He got that raw deal over and over and over again in his life. Picking up in Genesis chapter 45, verse 1, this is the point in the story where Joseph's brothers have come to him in Egypt for help, for food, because there's famine in the land. And Joseph has been placed in second in command below Pharaoh over Egypt. Genesis 45 verse 1, then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants. And he cried out, have everyone leave my presence. So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and Pharaoh's household heard about it. Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to answer him because they were terrified at his presence. 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 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. For two years now there has been famine in the land and for the next five years there will not be plowing or reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all of Egypt. There's so much repetition through those verses of God sent me. God sent me. I've shared this before, but I love repetition in the Bible because the Lord so often uses it to grab my attention that, hey, this is in here multiple times, Jenna, so pay attention. But Joseph did not play the victim card here. He didn't say to his brothers, you wronged me. I did nothing to deserve this. How could you do this to me? You have no idea what I've been through. I've spent years in prison for no reason, nothing that I've done wrong. Instead, he saw the sovereign hand of God through all that had transpired in his life. He did not see the hand of his brothers. He saw the hand of God. That was the lens through which he saw his circumstances. His lens was his almighty God, not his interpretation or his logical understanding of what had happened in his life he saw everything through the filter of his God and I just loved that he knew that God is sovereign God is sovereign over our health he's sovereign over our finances he's sovereign over the lives of our children he's sovereign over our employment status our career progression but he's also sovereign over the really small things in life he's sovereign over the traffic on washington road he is sovereign over how long the checkout line is in a store he is sovereign and that is the lens through which we're challenged to see our circumstances so how do we respond when those unfavorable things come how do we respond when the curveball of life hits when we lose our job or we receive a scary diagnosis or there's a major change in our family how do we respond how do we respond to the little things in life. The 500th spill on the floor that has us on our knees wiping up the kitchen floor yet again. How do we respond to sitting in that traffic that is making us late for our meeting or our appointment? Do we see the circumstances in our life through the filter of who we know God to be? Do we respond to what is happening in our life in a way that makes sense to the world or in a way that makes sense because of who we know our God is? The world gets frustrated at little things. The world gets angry when they're cut off in traffic or the line that they're in to check out at the store is not moving at all. But as believers in Christ, we should respond differently. And I think Joseph gives us a beautiful example of that. He saw the sovereign hand of his God in all that had happened in his life. So we know that God is sovereign over both the big and the small things. We know that he allows each and every minute detail of our day. It has been filtered through his fingers. So do we see things through the lens of our emotion, our anger, our frustration, which sometimes we might feel are legitimate, but that can't be the through which we evaluate how we will respond to what happens to us. Everything, we must see everything through the filter of our good, great God, who we know from a couple weeks ago is compassionate and he is loving. I hope that encourages you. I hope that this week, whatever is around the corner, you are challenged to respond in a way that makes sense based upon who we know God to be from his word. I hope you have a really great week. See you soon.

Originally published at warren.church.