By Kindred Resources / SPS
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The world tends to always take any milestone or accomplishment and respond with, “That’s great. So what’s next?” On and on through life, the question comes on constant repeat.
Today, let’s listen to a passage from King Solomon in his frustration with the “What’s next?”
“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 NLT)
Petty cynical, huh? Well, we all have days when we feel this same way. Solomon was simply voicing what we in the human race feel quite often.
Now, listen to him in chapter 3, verses 11-13:
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
We all feel the weight of what Solomon expressed in the first passage: meaningless feelings about our days. But God is the crucial element in life to bring value and purpose, even to the mundane and the seemingly meaningless.
What is one way you can recognize God’s gift in what often seems mundane in your life?
Life itself, even on the meaningless days, is indeed a gift from Him.
Let’s pray: “Father, help me look for beauty, value, purpose, eternity, and to look for Your work in my world and celebrate your gifts, especially the gift of life. As above, so below.”
ISAIAH 32:15-20 NLT
Until at last the Spirit is poured out
on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
Justice will rule in the wilderness
and righteousness in the fertile field.
And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
They will be at rest.
Even if the forest should be destroyed
and the city torn down,
the Lord will greatly bless his people.
Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
Beautiful words of hope - These verses are in response to what the writer describes just before as -
For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.
Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
Is there a place in your life where you feel like your land is over grown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns are gone.
ISAIAH 32:15-20
Until at last the Spirit is poured out
on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
Justice will rule in the wilderness
and righteousness in the fertile field.
And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
They will be at rest.
Even if the forest should be destroyed
and the city torn down,
the Lord will greatly bless his people.
Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
Life brings us all ups and downs. When we are down, it can feel permanent.
Focus on these words from this passage -
And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
This same verse from the Message says it this way
Right will build a home in the fertile field.
And where there’s Right, there’ll be Peace
What would it mean for you today to live right? Is there one thing you can think of that you can just do the right thing?
Let’s pray together: “Father, thank you for this reminder that you rebuild all things. I pray for those areas of my life where it feels like my land is overgrown with thorns. Please bring your peace, healing and righteousness. Help me to day after day just do the right thing for your sake believing that you will make all things right. As above so below.”
For our final day this week, we’ll see how, surprisingly, Joseph’s life was brought full circle for a total and complete redemption. Why? Because he followed the purpose and plan of God.
Genesis 42:1-3 NLT
When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at one another? I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy enough grain to keep us alive. Otherwise, we’ll die.” So, Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain.
You know what’s coming, don’t you?
Genesis 42: starting at verse 6 NLT
Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all the people, it was to him that his brothers came. When they arrived, they bowed before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them…. Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him.
Finally, the moment came for the reveal.
Genesis 45:4-8 NLT
And he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. … God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So, it was God who sent me here, not you!
What if we decided like Joseph to take every tragedy, every injustice, every wrong done to us, and trust God to show us the “why,” the greater purpose that could come from the “what?”
We know the famous verse to end our story from Genesis 50:19
Don’t you see, you planned evil against me, but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people.
Nothing about this story sounds pleasant or easy. But God provided favor all along the way, even in dark situations.
Is there is a dark situation in your life right now - more than likely, you are not in prison for a false accession like Joseph, but even in that situation can you reflect on one way you can see God’s faithfulness to you, even in the short term as you wait for the long-term promise?
Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, there are things in my life that I know you want to restore and redeem like Joseph’s. Help me to see my life through Your eyes, to hear Your truth, and to live my purpose just as You planned when You created me. As above, so below.”
We really hope you are enjoying this week and the amazing story of Joseph. God had given him a strange, mystical gift of being ability to hear someone’s crazy-sounding dream and be able to offer a credible interpretation that applied to the person’s future. And would most certainly come true.
After Pharaoh had a very strange dream and no one could tell him what it meant, he was finally made aware of Joseph and called him before the throne to hear the dream, this is in Genesis 41:15
“I dreamed a dream,” Pharaoh told Joseph. “Nobody can interpret it. But I’ve heard that just by hearing a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered, “Not I, but God. God will set Pharaoh’s mind at ease.”
When the dust had settled after Joseph heard, interpreted, and offered solutions for all of Pharaoh’s dreams, the ruler of Egypt made a surprising declaration to everyone, but most especially to Joseph:
We pick up in verse 38
Then Pharaoh said to his officials, “Isn’t this the man we need? Are we going to find anyone else who has God’s spirit in him like this?”
So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “You’re the man for us. God has given you the inside story—no one is as qualified as you in experience and wisdom. From now on, you’re in charge of my affairs; all my people will report to you. Only as king will I be over you.”
Every problem that humans threw at Joseph, God always in time provided a promotion for him. Ultimately, he became the second most powerful leader in the known world.
This story is much like when Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 19:26: “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
God can overcome anything if we will simply place the circumstance in His hands. The handing-over can be very hard sometimes, because we feel out-of-control. But giving control of something we cannot control anyway to the God who is always in control will be the best decisions we make—every time. Like Joseph told Pharaoh: “It is beyond my power to do this, but God can …”
Is there an impossible situation in your life right now that you can turn over to God?
Let’s pray: “Father, thank You that whatever happens, You can. What is impossible for me is always possible for You. What seems impossible to happen or not happen, You have control over. I submit my life, my purpose, my own need to be in control to You. As above, so below.”
If you either didn’t know the story of Joseph or haven’t heard it in a very long time, the back-and-forth that happened to him is mind-boggling. Today is certainly no different. I want, as you hear Joseph’s story, to overlay your own circumstances to know that God desires to create the same type of outcome for you.
Genesis 39:21-23 NLT
But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.
Are you starting to see the pattern? When Joseph is put in a bad situation, he responds by working hard and having the best attitude he can. That has to be true or these people in authority wouldn’t have done the things they did for Joseph. His life must have expressed something very different than other servants or prisoners. His life reflected, not his own, but that of the God who gave purpose to Joseph’s life.
Genesis 39:21-23 MESSAGE
But there in jail God was still with Joseph: He reached out in kindness to him; he put him on good terms with the head jailer. The head jailer put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners—he ended up managing the whole operation. The head jailer gave Joseph free rein, never even checked on him, because God was with him; whatever he did God made sure it worked out for the best.
It is so crucial and important for us to not miss the many times Joseph had the opportunity to get bitter, to be vengeful, to hate, to curse, and to decide God had forgotten all about him. But he didn’t. He knew that son or servant, palace or prison, God was with him, showing him the way through, not the way out. Apply these truths to your own life today because they are certainly very real and available to you right now.
Let’s pray: “Father, I know what it feels like to be forgotten by people and start to believe that nothing good is going to happen. But with You, that is simply not true. You never forget. You always see me. You are always with me. Help me to accept and know that truth today and every day. As above, so below.”
Today, we continue to read the life of Joseph, we’ll see the roller coaster of good and evil in his life. But most importantly, his response to the injustices done to him and God’s response to Joseph’s faith.
Genesis 39:1-21 NLT
When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. … This pleased Potiphar, so he … put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. … With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!
Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “My master trusts me with everything in his entire household. … How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her … One day … She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “… this Hebrew slave … came into my room to rape me, but I screamed. … Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story … So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison … But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love.
Among the evil Joseph had to endure, what were the two phrases that created game changers for him?
“The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did …”
“But the Lord was with Joseph … and showed him his faithful love.”
“The Lord was with” simply means there was a constant, continual relationship between God and Joseph. Like a hybrid of family and friend. No matter what you have been through, are walking through now, or will endure in your life, that “with” is available to you 24/7.
These same thoughts are what Paul meant when in Romans 8:31, he stated, “If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”
Let’s personalize and repeat that phrase right now: “If God is for me, who can ever be against me?” … “If God is for me, who can ever be against me?” … “If God is for me, who can ever be against me?”
Let’s pray together: “Father, thank You that nothing that can happen to me is bigger, stronger, or greater than You. I want my life to be marked by the “with” of being in a relationship with You. I invite You into my life to experience the same closeness as Joseph had. As above, so below.”
Throughout this week, we’ll be reading from the life of Joseph.
Genesis 37:2-4 NLT
When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half-brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So, one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.
Now, fast-forward to Joseph being sent by his dad to check on his brothers who were working in the field …
Genesis 37:23-28 NLT
When Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders … Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.
We all know the end of the story. How God used all of these terrible situations for ultimate good. But before we get ahead of ourselves to the redemption - Do you have a memory in your own life that this story triggered for you? Something tragic? Betrayal? An injustice?
While this story is painful to hear, the bottom line is we all understand family dysfunction that causes pain and creates scars that we have to deal with for a long time. But these events in our lives offer us a choice: will I let this define me or will I allow this to become a defining moment?
Your relationship with God can bring purpose to create a greater, stronger you out of any circumstance. But for this to happen, the pain and the process has to be surrendered to God and then stay submitted to Him on the journey to wholeness and healing.
As we walk through this week, and the story of Joseph, can you ask God to start to reveal his purpose for your pain, maybe like you have never seen it before.
Let’s pray: “Father, thank You for providing examples in Scripture that show me how to navigate the tragedies of life through You. Right now, I surrender my hurts, my pain, and my process of healing to You. Use it all—the good and bad—to bring me a greater sense of purpose about my life, as You lead me. As above, so below.”
The Message Bible—Romans 5:1-5.
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide-open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:1-5 MSG)
Let’s personalize these scriptures… God has made you right with Him through Christ. That’s what He wanted for you when He created you. God has thrown open the doors of Heaven to you. He wants you to throw open the doors of your heart, your mind, your spirit to Him. And now you are standing where you have always hoped to stand—out in the wide-open spaces of His grace and glory.
Let’s take a few moments … I want to ask you to express Your praise to God. Whether you shout or you are silent, take a moment to worship like Paul expressed, as he calls it standing tall and shouting our praise.
Please know that the enemy of God and the ways of this world do not want you to know who you truly are in Christ. So that is exactly why the battle is so strong on so many of your days to pull you down and keep you down. But please, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking … never stop. Know who you are and only go deeper in your relationship with Christ. You will never find the end of Him this side of Heaven, so I want to inspire you to dive deep in His grace and in His glory.
Let’s pray: “Heavenly Father, we worship You today as the One who gives us our life, our breath, and our identity. You alone establish our worth and our value. Help me, lead me, to just keep asking, seeking, and knocking to know You deeper and higher and farther and longer in Your love until I come home to be with You. As above, so below.”
We want to spend the bulk of our time together in meditation on a powerful chapter that King David wrote. Today, our focus will be to understand who we are, we must first know that God is God and we are not. So much of the issues in our lives regarding our identity is when we try to keep ourselves on the throne when we were never created to sit there. Only our God.
(Psalm 84 NLT)
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God! What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem. O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. … A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.
What phrase or thought stood out to you? Consider why. What is God saying to you right now?
Listen to verse 5-7 from the Message Bible
And how blessed all those in whom you live,
whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!
Is there a lonesome valley you are facing right now?
Then listen to the closing words once more - For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.
Let’s pray: “Father, David used the word ‘joy’ many times in this Psalm. Help me to find more joy in You and in my life. I need You to be my sun and my shield. Please give me Your grace and glory. I want to do what is right in Your eyes so You will withhold no good thing from me. As above, so below.”
The apostle Paul wrote one of the most transparent passages about himself in Romans 7.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:15-20 NIV)
Even though the words can sound confusing at first read, we also completely get it, don’t we? This Jekyll and Hyde-type existence when we become Christ-followers, yet still live in sin. This truth is very important to understanding the dilemma of living in the Kingdom of God while also still being a citizen of earth.
What I want to do, I don’t do. The good I really want to do; I can’t seem to do. And I hate it! And I … just … keep… doing … it!
But Paul went on to solve the mystery. Listen …
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:21-25 NIV)
The next time you get frustrated with yourself and your choices—to do bad or to not do good, stop, read, and remember Paul’s teaching here. We all have sin waging war in us, even though we truthfully want to do what is right. Ultimately, the rescue from the moment you are in and from the shame that accompanies it, is found only in Jesus.
Is there a contradiction, something you don’t want to keep doing that seems to keep being a problem in your life right now? Will you surrender it to God and accept His grace?
God knows the struggle you have following Him and yet living in our sinful bodies. His grace is sufficient and He is not disappointed in you.
Let’s pray: “Lord, thank You for salvation that provides the rescue that even allows us to have a choice between sin and righteousness. Lead me, help me to look to You when I struggle with who I am and what I do. Help me to grow in my relationship to You as I make decisions today. As above, so below.”
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