Do you ever wish that you could hear more clearly from God? I certainly do. There have been times in my life when I would have given anything to know what God wanted me to do. I believe that God still speaks to us. In fact, the question is not whether God still speaks but if we can hear Him when He does. Jesus calls us friends and sons and daughters. Friends talk to friends and parents with their children. It is a game changer in our lives when we are able to learn to hear His voice. 

In John 10:3-5 Jesus says, “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

What is the secret to hearing His voice? An account from the life of Elijah may give us a clue. He had just tussled with Ahab and Jezebel, the evil king and his wife, and was running for his life as Jezebel had vowed to kill him. He arrived in a cave after traveling 40 days and nights - discouraged and ready to hang up his calling as a prophet. If Elijah ever needed a word from God, it was now.

God came to him in his discouragement, 1 Kings 19:11-13: “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.” And in that gentle whisper, God spoke words of grace and healing to Elijah and gave him direction for what he should do.

What does it take to hear a gentle whisper? Quietness! Times when we can sit in the presence of Jesus with attentive hearts and minds. Perhaps the reason we don’t hear God more often or more clearly is because we are so busy and distracted that His whisper is not heard. God will not compete for our attention. But He longs for it because He loves to be with us. He died for us. He adopted us. He blessed us. He gives us His goodness every day, but too often we are oblivious to His gentle whisper because we are not paying close attention.

If you find this to be true in your life, reconsider that daily time that we often call “Quiet Time.” Quiet time is Jesus time. Us and Him. Worshipping, talking to Him, reading His word, meditating on His truth and talking to Him. And with hearts wide open, listening to Him. He is there. The question is whether we can hear Him.

Father, I want to hear You more often and more clearly. Thank You for loving me and talking to me. Help me to hear Your gentle whisper in my life and remind me often that I need to take time to be quiet with You. Teach me to hear Your voice. Amen.

When it comes to forgiveness, there is one principle that we often ignore to our own peril - and it has a nasty effect on our relationships. That is the foolishness of taking up the offense of others. Here is how it works: A friend of mine is wronged in some way - or more accurately, I perceive they were wronged by some individual. Because of my loyalty and relationship with them, I choose to pick up my friends' offense, holding a grudge and even anger against the one who hurt my friend. Now, not only is my friend in a position of relational discord with another, but I am as well. I am now angry with someone who did nothing to me, real or perceived.

Now think of how absurd this is. In the first place, the wrong (if it was a wrong) was not perpetuated against me. Second, I don’t even know the facts but only my friend’s version of the facts, which is, at the most, half the story. Third, I now carry unforgiveness in my heart toward another which is not a Jesus thing to do. Fourth, I have no way of resolving the issue since it was not with me in the first place and the final and most absurd thing is that when my friend forgives the one who offended him, I continue to carry around my animosity because I have no way of resolving an issue that I was not a part of.

In addition, it is not unusual for people who have taken up the offense of others to badmouth the individual or individuals they hold responsible for hurting their friends. This is nothing short of gossip since the truth is that I don’t have the facts myself and even if I did I have no license to spread bad information about another. This is doubly true when I was not involved in the first place and often the information shared in this scenario is nothing less than character assassination because it is just wrong. 

Taking up the offense of others creates relational chaos and is sin. Unfortunately, it happens all too often and many times in the church of Jesus. 

In the book of Ephesians, Paul gives us explicit instructions regarding our relationships and attitudes and actions toward one another. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” - Ephesians 4:29 - 5:2

If we live with this kind of relational clarity and cleanness toward one another, there is no room for taking up the offense of others, harboring grudges, or bad attitudes toward others. If you are harboring such an attitude in your own heart, consider Paul’s words and have the courage to let it go, repent before Jesus and forgive those you harbor animosity toward.

Father, forgive me for those times when I have taken up the offense of others and created animosity in my heart toward others. Remind me that this is not the route to relational cleanness with others and help me forgive those I hold grudges against. Amen.

There are many mistaken notions about forgiveness which, if not understood, can cause us to question whether we have truly forgiven those who have wronged us. Almost all of us carry with us wounds inflicted by another. Some of those wounds go back to our childhoods and are intensely painful to remember. Often we wonder how old we will be before we are freed from their grip. I want to look at four myths about forgiveness that are not Biblical and should not cloud our understanding of this important issue. 

Myth one: Someone has to ask for forgiveness before we give it. If only life was that simple. Here is one of the most difficult things about forgiveness: those who have hurt us rarely apologize to us, ask forgiveness, or acknowledge the depth of their hurt to our hearts, souls or bodies. In fact, we don’t forgive primarily for the individual who wronged us but for our own sake. I wrote in a recent blog post that when we refuse to forgive, we allow ourselves to be incarcerated in a cell of bitterness even while we have the key to unlock the cell door - forgiveness - but we choose our dingy cell to the joy of sunlight, freedom, and peace. The one who wounded you may well not deserve your forgiveness, but you deserve to forgive them so that you don’t live life in the prison of bitterness.

Myth two: Forgiving means forgetting. Our memories don’t work that way. We don’t forget moments or periods of intense pain. They are indelibly locked in our brain. The pain we feel when we remember those events may start to fade with time and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives but we will not forget. The goal of forgiveness is not to forget. Rather, it is to be free of the bitterness and hate that we feel for those who wronged us. The more freedom we experience, the more healing we can experience. As we heal the memories don’t go away but the pain associated with them starts to recede. 

Myth three: Forgiveness relieves us of the pain of the wounds inflicted on us. Not so. The pain only recedes with the passage of time and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we heal, the pain may become less painful and there may come a day when there is no pain left. But that only happens when we choose to forgive and give up our bitterness.

Myth four: It is easy for a Christian to forgive. Not so. Forgiving others is one of the most difficult things we will ever do and the greater the wound the harder it is to forgive. This was the topic of one of Jesus’s parables: The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. As Jesus was dialoguing about this parable, He had this conversation with Peter: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” - Matthew 18:21-23

Why would Jesus say this? He said it because of how hard it is to forgive. In many instances, forgiveness is a process of forgiving, and forgiving, and forgiving until finally we don’t need to forgive any longer. It is a hard discipline that must be exercised time and time again until the pain has receded and the bitterness is gone. It may be the hardest thing you will ever do.

Father, I thank You that You forgave me and the price You paid for that to happen. My prayer is that You will help me forgive those who have wronged me. I long to be free from bitterness and the PTSD I experience when I just hear their name or see something that reminds me of them. It is a hard thing to do, to forgive, so help me do it no matter how many times I must repeat it. Heal my heart Lord. Heal my heart. Amen.

For many of us, one of the greatest struggles of our lives is to forgive ourselves for choices we have made, actions we have taken, or perhaps words we’ve said. The thing about past sins is that they can be as real to us today as they were then. Often they are secret sins. But the problem is that we know. In spite of confessing them to God many times over, we can’t forgive ourselves.  

The lack of self forgiveness often has devastating results on our relationship with the Father and our own involvement in ministry. We have become convinced that He cannot truly forgive our sin. It was too egregious, too serious. And so we live our lives in silent confession, hoping that He can forgive but never really feeling forgiven. This directly involves our involvement in any kind of Christian service because we don’t feel that God could, should or would use us. So we live quietly in the shadows, never being all in and always feeling inadequate and unworthy.

If this applies to you, I want you to listen carefully to several truths. First, God’s grace always exceeds our sin. You cannot out sin God’s ability to forgive. Paul makes this clear when he says that, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (Romans 5:20) There is no sin that God cannot or will not forgive. He sent His one and only son that, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God is in the business of forgiving because of the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross.

Second, you cannot separate yourselves from God’s love. Again Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God, and he is also interceding for us.” - Romans 8:31-34

Third, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Fourth, who are we to deny God’s work of forgiveness by refusing to forgive ourselves? If He has forgiven us, we must do the same. Satan will always sow seeds of doubt in our mind regarding our sin but 1 John 1:9 makes it clear that when we confess, He purifies us from all unrighteousness. All of it! Every last bit of it. 

If you have a hard time forgiving yourself, ask God for His help. Sometimes it helps to do something to intentionally experience what God has already done for you. Take a piece of paper and write on it those sins that continue to bother you. Then as you thank God for His forgiveness, put that paper in your fireplace or burn it in your sink (don’t burn down the house). As you clean the sink of the ashes, you are reenacting what God has done with your heart. Thank Him, and every time you remember that sin again, think of the ashes in the sink that you cleaned up. Whatever you do, don’t live in guilt when God designed you for freedom, and don’t live in the shadows when God designed you for the light.

Father, I need Your help on this one. Help me accept Your forgiveness of my sin and help me to take the step of forgiving myself once and for all. I don’t want to question Your grace in my life. I believe, but help me in my unbelief. Amen.

There are few things in our lives that are as toxic to us, and others, as unforgiveness. It is deadlier than cancer and the longer it lasts, the more powerful it becomes. Like some amoeba in a horror film, it eats away at our hearts, robs us of our joy, dries up our spiritual life and brings dysfunction to our relationships. It is a heart killing, joy robbing, soul numbing and relationship destroying condition.

Why don’t we forgive? We want our pound of flesh! To forgive someone who has wronged us is to let go of our deep need and desire for revenge. It is to refuse to hold something against another who has hurt us. It is to give up the bitterness that we nurse - and it does not seem fair to us. After all they don’t deserve it, have not apologized, don’t know how badly they hurt me and I don’t want to let them off that easily. 

And so we allow ourselves to be incarcerated in a cell of bitterness even while we have the key to unlock the cell door - forgiveness - but we choose our dingy cell to the joy of sunlight, freedom and peace. It is a bad tradeoff. 

To refuse to forgive another is to forget that we have been like the one we don’t want to forgive. We didn’t deserve forgiveness, we were repeat offenders in God’s eyes and we don’t even want to think about all the stuff God forgave us for - nor do we need to because He freely forgave and released us from our guilt and shame. 

Paul put it this way: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8

Given this fact, we have no choice but to forgive those who have wronged us. Our obligation is this according to Paul in Ephesians 4:32 - 5:2. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” 

To forgive is to be like Jesus, and I want to be like Jesus. To forgive is to free ourselves from the bondage and weight of bitterness, and I want to live in freedom. To forgive is to remember how often God chose to forgive us and continues to do so, and I want to remember His grace in my life. To forgive is to live in freedom!

We need to ask ourselves today. Who do I need to forgive? Who have I been nursing bitterness toward? In what relationships do I need to be an imitator of God and choose to forgive? For our sake and our freedom and our obedience.

Jesus, my heart is convicted today. I want to be like You. I want to forgive others as You forgave me. Help me with those people in my life where I am nursing bitterness and have not forgiven. Help me to leave aside bitterness for the freedom that comes from You. Amen.

Why do bad things happen to good people? We live between a perfect creation and a perfect re-creation, between two perfect bookends of history. But in the interim we live with the scars of a world undone - and our own lives are undone - until we invite Christ to become Lord of our life. And even then, we live in Satan’s territory, temporarily, for Christ has overcome the world on the cross but, until He returns in person, the scrimmages between the forces of good and evil continue. The divine D-day settled the matter, but the final battle has not been fought. 

When I think of the cross, as Private Ryan stood before the grave of the one who gave his life for Him, I wonder, why me? Why would God care so much that He would give His life for me? Why would he reclaim men and women lost in sin? Why would He re-create what we destroyed? Why would He carry my brokenness on Himself in my place?

That is the real “why” question when all is said and done. It is not, “why do we suffer?” It is, “why does God redeem us and give us hope?” It is not, “why is life unfair?” It is, “why is God willing and wanting to enter into my situation with me?”

Each of us who has made Jesus Lord of our lives is a trophy of His amazing grace. Listen to how Paul describes us: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” - Ephesians 2:4-7

In His divine rescue operation, God made us alive in Christ when we were dead in our sinfulness. And then, while we continue to live for a time in this broken world, we are figuratively already seated with Jesus in heaven, for we are His children. Why? So that for all time, the amazing love, mercy, and incomparable riches of His grace would be evident for all to see.

As long as we live in this world, we are the visible champions of God’s grace. As those who know us watch how we handle adversity, pain and sorrow, they also see the hope that we have in Jesus. We will have trouble in this world, but we can live with His peace, and that peace is proof that He has indeed overcome the world and won the war against evil. The divine D-day is only awaiting the final inevitable outcome of Satan defeated and Jesus victorious. And on that day, all that was wrong will be made right.

Jesus said in John 16:33,  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” We will overcome because He has overcome! Even our broken hearts become a way for Him to prove to a watching world that He is Lord!

Father, I thank You that although we live in a sinful world that touches each of us personally, that You have overcome the world. I ask today for Your peace: a peace that passes human understanding because of Your divine rescue operation for me. Amen.

Much of life is lived on the surface, superficially, accidentally, and without deep thought. People are often busy, distracted, and unfocused. However, those who have experienced pain in their lives have been transformed in the process and display a depth of life and thinking that is radically different from the norm. If you are one of those, you have been given a great gift and God wants to use that gift to influence others.

There is nothing like faith, forged in suffering. Each of the faith heroes of Hebrews 11 had a suffering-forged faith that gave them an unshakable trust and confidence in the living God, and they were therefore willing to suffer and even die for Him. They displayed a perseverance and resolve that was unusual. Speaking of Moses, it says, “He persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). If God has met you in your pain, you, too, have seen Him who is invisible; you have felt His presence and experienced His love and grace.

That depth should have a direct impact on our jettisoning the sin that we have allowed to linger in the shadows of our lives. We exchange that sin for a wholehearted, non negotiated followership of Jesus. Why continue to live with the junk when we have experienced the fellowship of Jesus in a new way and been recipients of His generous grace? To do so is to negate the very lessons that God made possible for us to learn through our pain. 

The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it well: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” - Hebrews 12:1-3

Our pain reveals what is truly important. It reveals parts of our character that need transformation. It reveals sin that we have allowed to linger. Pain is the great revealer of sin, character, and dysfunction. Therefore, it is an opportunity to deal with those areas God wants us to deal with. Not to do so is to lose a great opportunity to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles so that we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Don’t short-circuit the opportunity to grow through authentic attention to the sin that your pain reveals. This is a part of God’s work and it is required for those who desire to go deep with him. The heroes of Hebrews 11 would tell us this: Don’t waste your pain. Use that pain to go deep with Jesus and to throw off the stuff that holds us back. Transform your broken dreams into a better and faith filled future. That is what David did, and Moses, and the heroes of Hebrews 11. Let's join that bunch by allowing God to transform us in our own pain. I can trace every major spiritual breakthrough in my own life to pain that I endured. Today, looking back, I say to myself, I never want to go through that again, but I would not trade its lessons for anything. What about you? 

Father, You are the author and finisher of our faith and You are able to turn broken dreams into something beautiful as You work in our lives. Do that in my life. I choose to trust You with my future. Amen.

It has been my observation over the years that when dreams are compromised or broken there are two common reactions. The first reaction is to blame God and, in one’s pain, to move away from the One we hold responsible. The second is to recognize our need for God and move closer to Him. For those who move away from God, the result is a lessening of hope, the beginning of bitterness toward God and allowing those broken dreams to diminish their lives. 

For those who choose to press into God in their pain, the result is a deeper understanding of God, a closer relationship with Him, lessons learned in the middle of the pain and, most important of all, a deeper hope and trust than before. In every period of brokenness we face this choice,  and it is a choice. Do we press in or lean out when it comes to Jesus?

Why do some choose one route and others a different route? Why do some come out stronger and others weaker? I believe the answer is found in a simple principle: If we have a history of trusting God and pressing into Him, we will do so when the chips are down and we face bitter disappointment. If, on the other hand, we have been careless in our relationship with God, don’t know Him well or don’t have a history of truly trusting Him, we will likely blame Him in the bad times because we didn’t get to know Him in the good times. Ironically, it is not God who is to blame but ourselves and the choices we make each day to trust Him.

King David’s dreams were shattered when his own son Absolom tried to take over the kingdom and rip it from his hands. As David was fleeing Absolom and his men, this is what he wrote. As you read it, remember that David’s son had committed treason, Absolom had found many men to rise up against his own father and David was running for his life. Against this background, he wrote these words. It is found in Psalm 3. 

“Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’ But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”

He starts by acknowledging his situation and his many foes. In fact, many were saying “God will not deliver him.” That was the word on the street. There was plenty of bad news. Not only was David’s kingdom threatened but now he had to deal with his own son being at the heart of the insurrection. There is no good news there.

But David knew who God was and he had cultivated his relationship with God for all of his life. As depressed as he was, he knew that the only thing to do was to lean in on the one who had always sustained him. He knew that, “from the Lord comes deliverance,” and he chose to put his trust in Him.

If your dreams have been shattered, do the only thing that makes any sense and press into Jesus and allow Him to heal you and transform you in the process. If you are in a good place today, do the same because there will come a day when your heart is also shattered. Both are choices each of us makes.

Father, I thank You that You have the ability to sustain us when the chips are down. Thank You that from You deliverance comes. In good days and bad, help me to trust You and press into You so that I never need to wonder if You will be there for me. Amen.

God’s greatest goal for our lives is not to make us happy and content. His greatest goal is to help us become like Him in character and heart. It is in the hard times that we actually develop the faith that brings us true joy in life. Thus our pain, from whatever direction it comes, gives us the gift of turning our hearts in need to the only one who can truly satisfy our hearts: Christ. In the moment, all we may feel is pain. In the scope of life, if we turn to Him, that pain develops in us deep faith and character that looks like His character.

This is the message of Peter in 1 Peter 1:6-7: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

The first time life came undone for me was early in my career when the church I was serving encountered problems, forcing me to take a different path. I chose to resign and move from California back to Minnesota to figure out what to do next. It had been a dark night of the soul, and I was physically exhausted, emotionally wounded, and deeply clinically depressed. From my perspective at the time, my dreams were shattered, I had been mistreated, and I no longer wanted to continue as a pastor. The trajectory of my life had taken a 180 degree turn, and like an errant missile, exploded.

It was a painful and long recovery that took a full ten years. But it launched me on a journey to understand God’s grace in my life - a journey that continues to this day. Redeeming my painful experience in that church, God gave me a consulting and writing career to help church leadership become healthy and effective. As with Joseph, God took what was ugly and painful and full of despair and redeemed it for His purposes, and in the process grew my heart more like His heart.

As God uses our pain to help us become like him in character and heart, we actually find ourselves becoming content and happy. The route to that contentment and happiness is not the one we would choose, because it runs through the river of pain, but it emerges on the other side with an authentic contentment and happiness that we couldn’t have by any other means. And in the process we begin to understand the promise of Jesus: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Here is what you need to know if your dreams have been shattered: God is not the author of your pain - pain comes from living in a broken world. But God will take your pain and redeem it for His greater eternal purposes if you will allow Him to do that. The route to true fulfillment and purpose is often found in a detour through unwelcome pain. God wants to take that pain and use it for His glory. He will use our suffering to build His character and heart in us more fully.

Father, I thank You that Your greatest desire for me is that I become more like You. Help me to see the pain that I walk through in that perspective. Remind me that my pain will be redeemed for greater things than I can imagine - a me that is more like You.

When our dreams are broken, as many inevitably will be, it can leave behind painful scars. We deal with emotional pain, physical trauma, limitations, and life issues that are impacted by our situation. 

Instinctively we ask the question: “Why? Why me?” The “why” question makes me think of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was the favorite son of his father and, because of his brother’s jealousy, they sold him to a passing caravan as a slave. (How is that for family love?) Don’t you think Joseph, who was most likely a teenager, was asking, “why me?” He ends up in the home of a high official and demonstrates his skill and trustworthiness to the point that his master gives him full control of his household. But his master’s wife has eyes for him, and when he refuses her advances, she claims he tried to rape her. He is thrown into jail for years. Again, I can imagine him asking, “why?” He had been faithful to his God and his master and this is what he gets in return!

In his pain, in his shattered dreams, in that prison, he discovered the goodness and presence of God. “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did” (Genesis 39:20-23).

Then, you remember the cupbearer and the baker for the King who asked Joseph to interpret their dream for them? He told them that the baker would die and the cupbearer would be released. The cupbearer promised to tell the king about him. But once out of prison, the cupbearer promptly forgot Joseph and another two years passed in prison. One thing Joseph had to conclude: Life is not fair, people are not fair, and circumstances are not fair. It does not take long in life to realize all three of these things to be true. 

But God had not forgotten Joseph, and one day it was Pharaoh who had a dream that none of his advisors could interpret. Now the cupbearer suddenly remembered the prisoner who had accurately interpreted his dream, and he told Pharaoh about Joseph. Pharaoh summoned Joseph who interpreted the dream and gave him wise advice. Recognizing that the Spirit of God was on Joseph, Pharaoh made Joseph the second in command in Egypt to oversee the storing and distribution of food for the coming famine.

As he had predicted to Pharaoh, there were seven years of great harvests and then seven years of famine. Joseph had led the effort to store food for the day of famine and one day his brothers came from their homeland to purchase food from Egypt, as all the surrounding countries were forced to do. Imagine the scene when the bothers, who had sold Joseph into slavery, stood before him, now a high official of Pharaoh, not knowing who they depended on to purchase food for their family. Never was there a better opportunity for Joseph to get revenge, but he understood that God had a purpose in his suffering - that what his brothers meant for evil, God redeemed and used for Good - as God always does if we let him.

“Joseph said to his brothers...I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt...God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:4-7).

When your heart is broken, remember these two lessons. First, God is always there with you no matter how great your pain. And second, God always redeems our pain for His glory, if we will let Him.

Father, would You redeem the broken dreams I have suffered for Your glory? I thank You that I don’t walk through times of pain by myself but that, like Joseph, You are always there and always blessing me. Remind me often of Your presence. Amen.