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Friday, April 30, 2004
Wow it's been over a month. Not really a reason for the non-posting. Actually I have been rather busy but the real reason is more personal in nature. However so that I don't bore those of you who could care less, I will get to the real stuff now. ACTS. I have spent about a month listening (via CD) and reading ACTS and there is obviously tons of great stuff. But I want to focus on chapter 7. In chapter 7 Stephen is about to become a martyr. He is speaking of the history of the Jewish people to a group of Jews. He is essentially telling them the story of their own history that will culminate in the cross of Jesus. But along the way he speaks of Joseph. Joseph was man a who stephen describes as a man whom God was with. In fact, it was Joseph who was able to save his family from a terrible famine by bringing them safely to Egypt. But I kept thinking about the way he was described--a man who God was with. Yet it was this Joseph who was sold into slavery by his own brothers, who in truth wanted to kill him. He spent years as a slave and even in prison. When he had risen in notoriety he became the most trusted servant for his master. But his master's wife wanted him to become her lover. When he refused he rightly replied, "I can not do this sin against GOD". His reply shows that Joseph understood the true nature of sin and what it did, who it was against, and so forth. And of course his reward for the faithfulness was to be thrown in prison. But God was with him. And that's the point of this message. God was a man whom by our human standards probably didn't look like God was anywhere near. I mean can you imagine being in prison for "not" having an affair? For being faithful the reward is......Prison. I don't know the specifics of what kind of prison it was but I can't imagine a happy prison of any kind. Dark, dank, horrible food, chains, bars, all of it. Not a good thing. And don't forget this guy's upbringing. Sold into slavery by his own brothers who hated him so much that they really wanted to kill him. But they didn't because they were afraid of their father. His life didn't seem to reflect any of the things that we would say make a successful life, ministry, walk with God etc. Except that he did the right things. And that God was with him. Sure in the end, that was evident. I mean he rose to basically being the 2nd in power of Egypt. He protected his family from death. He had a family. And all in all he even said What was meant for Evil God has meant for good. There was this attitude of knowing about God. Joseph did what was right and seemed to have this perseverance of attitude and belief. Maybe there were times in the cold cell that he thought he had been left behind. I don't know but it's more interesting what God thought. God thought this is a man I am with. Now even those who believe that in the end God's people will have great lives and all that they want can certainly see that God was with Joseph. But would it have looked that way during all those hard years? This was not a brief or week stay in prison. It went on for years. The slavery went on for years. The pain for his family went on for years. Did Joseph have stuff in him that needed to be taken out through hardship? Maybe. I don't know. But I do know that it says God was with him. We should all be that blessed. |
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