Today I’m
talking about Joseph. His lower story certainly didn’t make sense as one thing
after another happened to him. But as part of God’s upper story, Joseph’s story
has a purpose.
Here’s
a sample of what you’ll find…
Coat of many colors Joseph…
Family tension…Jacob (Joseph’s father) with two wives, who are also sisters…
Older brothers who are jealous of Joseph (Jacob’s favorite son)…
Joseph’s not doing too bad though…he’s got Jacob’s approval, a beautiful ornate robe, and he’s sharing dreams of others bowing down to him with his family.
And then the rug gets pulled out from under him.
I wonder if he ever saw it coming.
Do we?
When life takes a turn we didn’t anticipate, what do we do?
In times of trials, we can choose to turn one of two ways…toward God, where we grow closer to Him and learn to trust, depend, and rely on God and His promises. Or, away from God, often blaming Him for our circumstances.
Joseph certainly could have turned away from God in this lousy turn of events…
To
read my post in its entirety, please follow me over to the Gloria Dei blog. And if you would, leave a comment. I’d love to know you
stopped by!
In
Christ,
Laura
Linking
up with WholeHearted Home, Life in Bloom, Thought Provoking Thursday, and Faith Filled Friday.
What amazes me about Joseph's story is HOW LONG it took for God to prepare him for leadership. LOTS of days in the dungeon, lots of days in obscurity, lots of days of being forgotten. But Joseph was faithful to the small, seemingly insignificant tasks God has given him (a lot like being a mom), and God saw his faithfulness and made him ruler over much. Our problem is that we want to skip the "he who is faithful in little" part and go straight to the "will be ruler over much." There is no fast track to God's will. Thanks for your thought-provoking post today as I'm visiting from Be Not Weary :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lori,
DeleteThanks so much for your visit and comment. I agree with you about the timing. God's timing seems to take so much longer than we would like. I think about all the intricate pieces God puts together in His upper plan, not just preparing us for what's ahead, but preparing others' whose lives may intersect ours. We think we're ready sooner than God says we are, but we have no idea of all the planning and details that go into His plans. What an awesome God we have that He spends so much time planning and thinking about us!
You're right about wanting to skip "the little." How often our impatience gets in the way!
Blessings,
Laura
Coming over from Beholding Glory - loving your aspect of lower story vs upper story - it is so true that we often feel 'stuck' in our life and frustrated with God's timing, but forget that we are but one chapter in God's overarching story. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI like that..."we are but one chapter in God's overarching story." And we never know when one chapter will end and a new one begin. A change in our lower story may be right around the corner.
DeleteThanks for visiting and leaving a comment Tanya! God bless
I love the story about Joseph. His integrity is such an encouragement to my children and me as a mom.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up over at WholeHearted Home Wednesdays this week. Hope to see you again this week.