All three of our daughters are talented musically. I can brag because I'm their mother, and because that particular talent didn't come from me! When Leah was a senior in high school, she had one of the leads in the school musical. She was the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I had never seen that particular musical before her involvement with it, but it stands out as one of my favorites. The song lyrics are clever and funny, and it's a very uplifting production. This came to mind this week as I've been reading Genesis 37-50 because the musical recounts the story of Joseph.
Something I often pray for is God's perspective on a situation confronting me. That's one of the things that Joseph seems to have picked up somewhere along the line. As a young man, he was either very naive, or maybe a bit egotistical. We're told that he was very handsome, and, uh... 'well-built' ... and he was a flashy dresser. But, he shared his dreams with the wrong crowd... his jealous brothers ganged up on him and sold him into slavery. Humbling experiences can lead to humility, or to bitterness, and it seems that Joseph chose the high road.
As a slave, Joseph made the best of a bad situation, and he excelled. Imprisoned for false accusations, he opted to move on and helped the jailer succeed. Forgotten by those who promised to remember him, he stayed the course. And finally, after 13 years as a slave, he was exulted to governor over all of Egypt, the world's superpower of his time.
Recompense. I like that word. It's used by Isaiah in conjunction with the word, reward (Is.40:10, 62:11), announcing the good news that God is delivering the goods... bringing His plan together. Joseph got his recompense. Perhaps what carried him through those years in the 'dark' was the dream God had given him in the 'light'. And somehow, in spite of the injustice and the hardship, Joseph was able to see God's Hand in all of it. His trust that God's plan for him would prevail enabled him to thrive in his on-the-job training, which ultimately played a role in his success as Pharaoh's right-hand man. Joseph saw the big picture, God's perspective, and he was able to forgive his brothers and testify to them that what they intended for harm, God used for good... for Joseph's good, for the preservation of His people, and the continuation of His plan. Joseph got his recompense and he got the reward of being used as a tool to accomplish God's purpose.
The story of Joseph is another opportunity for me, and maybe you, to remember that even when we can't see it, He is working, and that if we do our best to stay His course, to listen for His voice, to hold fast to the promises and dreams He has breathed to us, ...the reward and the recompense is sure.
Isaiah 42:16 "I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them, and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, and I will not leave them undone."
No comments:
Post a Comment