The Lord ______ with _______
” The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.” – Gen. 39:2
Recently, life has been busy. It has been filled with meetings, appointments, sick kids, deadlines, new things, old things, sports, school stuff, homework, cleaning, laundry and so much more. Sound familiar? We all have seasons of life when it just seems out of control. What do I do next? What can I check off my to-do list? Where do I have to get the kids to? Which practice is tonight? And my favorite, how the heck am I supposed to get all of this together when there is so much to do?
As a life group, we have been working through a study of the book of Genesis. If you have not read Genesis in a while or maybe at all, you should! The stories that we are reading and the way that life began, is fascinating. However, there are some stories that stick out more than some. Some of the stories that we read in Genesis are:
Creation
Adam and Eve
The Fall
Noah
The Tower of Babel
Abram / Abraham and Sarai / Sarah
Isaac and Rebekah
Jacob and Esau
Jacob’s 12 sons
The one that is sticking out the most, is the story of Joseph. Did you know that Joseph’s story is one of the longest recorded story in the Bible? There is almost 15 chapters dedicated to Joseph’s story. It is not one that is easy to read. It is filled with ups and downs and twists and turns and dreams and prophecy and scandal and betrayal and death and famine and grace.
Joseph was the second youngest son of Jacob, also known as Israel. He was the son born from Rachel which was Jacob’s favorite. So automatically there was a jealousy and anger towards Joseph from his brothers. But Joseph doesn’t help himself. When Joseph was 16, he tells his brothers about a dream that he has about how when in a field, Joseph and his brothers had sheaves of wheat in the fields and his sheaf stood up and the brothers gathered around his and bowed down to his sheaf. The brothers didn’t like that too much…But then Joseph tells his brothers and his father another dream….the second dream was that the sun and moon and 11 stars were bowing down to him. Again, brothers didn’t like it at all, but Joseph’s father was also a little perplexed by it.
We see Joseph’s brothers get even angrier when Joseph receives a coat of many colors from their Father. Joseph’s brothers have enough. They go out to take the flocks out and have them graze. Joseph is sent by Israel to find his brothers and deliver a report back. The brothers have a different plan. They plan to kill Joseph. So not only does Joseph not have his brothers affection, they want to get him out the picture entirely. Unbeknownst to Joseph, when he finally catches up with his brothers, they have a plan to throw him in a cistern and leave him for dead. However, there was grace shown to him and instead of leaving him for dead, the brothers decide to sell Joseph to some traders and he made his way to Egypt where Joseph would eventually be sold to Potiphar. The brothers went back after killing a sheep and covering the coat of many colors in the blood of the sheep.
The we read in Genesis 39, an interesting statement:
” The Lord was with Joseph…..”
Kind of hard to beleive that statement after everything that Joseph has already gone through in his life. Even after this statement is made, we see that Joseph is put in charge of his masters home, but because he is described as handsome in appearance, his masters wife try to force herself on him. It didn’t work. But because she claimed and blamed Joseph for coming after her, his master threw Joseph into prison. In prison, Joseph is seen as responsible and respectable, to the point where he was put in charge of all of the inmates.
Still, Joseph ends up showing that he can perceive and interpret dreams. He does so for one that serve Pharaoh at the time. Joseph ends up being put as second in command in all of Egypt. So the Lord was with Joseph and it showed in how Joseph was seen and loved and trusted.
The crazy part of Joseph’s story is at the end when there is a famine in the land and his brothers come to Egypt to buy food that Joseph was able to save for during the 7 year famine that was interpreted from Pharaoh’s dream. Not only do we see Joseph’s brothers fall before him just like in his dreams when he was 16, we see that Joseph shows grace and love and care for his brothers by sending word to their Father that he is alive and he wants the entire clan to come and live in Egypt.
So what is so important about Joseph’s story?
In the midst of Joseph’s life, the Lord was WITH Joseph.
It is super hard to truly understand and really grasp, but in the midst of our up’s and downs and moutains and valleys and successes and failures…….the Lord IS with YOU.
Whether we know it or not. Whether we can feel it or not. Whether we can see it or not. Whether we believe it or not.
The Lord DESIRES to be WITH YOU.
He is not distant. He is not absent. He is not waiting for the right time. He is not waiting for you to clean yourself up. He is not waiting for you to figure it out.
You do not make God hesitate.
You do not cause God to doubt.
You do not cause God to not save you.
God shows from the very beginning of time, that HE WANTS TO BE WITH YOU.
WE see it as truth when we read in the Revelation of John:
” Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and first earth had passed away……And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying ” Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell WITH them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be WITH THEM as their God.” – Rev. 21: 1,3
When you face seasons of busyness, know this: The Lord IS WITH YOU.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other and walk with confidence knowing that God desires to be with and IS with you.
It is up to us to live in God’s presence however that may look for you.