Owning your stuff, finding forgiveness, and trusting in the one who can make a difference, is the new normal; it was for Joseph’s brothers.
The brother’s lives depended on it, and they couldn’t move ahead without it.
Joseph had his brothers, his father, and their entire families move to prime real estate, the best Egypt had to offer. They moved from absolute need to unbelievable provision all because of who they trusted. They once despised him, but now they trusted Joseph with their entire lives and future.
Joseph’s brothers could not have been saved from their dilemma without this trust.
Joseph was a picture of God’s provision to his siblings and all of their families. He was deliverance from their dilemma, healing from their past, hope for their future, and their new way of life.
History shows; the Bible shows; even Broadway shows that they made the right choice and they trusted the right person. It took them a while, it took incredible hardship, but they finally got it right.
Joseph was left for dead, despised, rejected, and unjustly suffered alone. He was raised to a position second only to Pharaoh himself. Joseph used the new position of ‘fortunate’ to provide for everyone else, especially his brothers.
Anyone else in Egypt couldn’t have and wouldn’t have provided for the brothers. Only Joseph had the answer and the help for their deepest needs; it could be argued that this was unfair to others, narrow and extremely exclusive or it could be accepted that this provision was uniquely designed for their personal lives.
Your future life, your new purpose, your hope for what is yet to be are found here; just as Joseph foreshadowed his family’s future hope and provision, so Christ foreshadows yours.
Now, it is your story, your new normal.
Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has its foundation in a true story, which when applied, will change your life.
Tag: Success
The moment arrived at lightning speed, and yet the storm took so long to get there.
Joseph waited and dreamed of a day that he wouldn’t be in slavery, he dreamed of having position or prominence, or was that just a faint, old, childish fantasy?
He did all the hard work of introspection and retrospection. He busted his chops to maintain and gain a good attitude. The Bible calls that success.
In a moment, in a whirlwind of, “Pharaoh wants to see you now.” Joseph was standing before the great! In a moment he was in a situation that could cost him his life or promote him to his destiny. He had seen it before. The stakes were incredibly high, the passion was immeasurable, and the ‘skin in the game’ was all Joseph’s.
Years ago I asked an RCMP officer how he liked his job. He said that it was 98% boredom and 2% sheer terror.
This moment for Joseph was framed exactly like that.
It’s improbable that Joseph was thinking that morning, “Next week this time I will be second in command for all of Egypt.” Now here he stood in a breath-held moment totally unsure of what his next step would be.
I find it hard to believe that this played out exactly the way that he dreamed. My experience is life just doesn’t work that way but here very naturally and in sequence Joseph experienced the ‘super’ natural. I believe that his heart held to something more, something that he knew had ‘greater’ attached, but like the rest of us, the clarity was yet to manifest. A supernatural God who, loved and cared passionately for Joseph orchestrated his life, and so he is yours.
Don’t get confused by the supernatural part. My confusion ended when I began to see God as super natural. He’s more natural than I am and more than likely he is going to work through very natural circumstances to see my life where he wants it to be.
And Hey. Since He doesn’t respect one person more than another, He’s doing it for you.
All you need is ‘skin in the game.’
Trust.
To my knowledge, there were no counsellors or emotional support groups when Joseph needed them most.
And yet, Joseph managed to process his stuff and come through in an emotional healthy condition.
Remember:
Rejected
Beaten
Stripped of identity
Discarded
Sold
Purchased like a commodity
Given a break (of sorts) ‘Minor’ success, perspective
Lured trapped and accused
Left identity once again
Stripped again of identity
Plunged deeper
Prisoner
Dream Catcher
Dream interpreter
2nd in command
Joseph did something in his day that clearly spoke to his mental health and showed that he properly and thoroughly processed.
He had two sons and spoke of his life through their names.
1) Manasseh – forget – “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” (Genesis 41:51, NIV)
2) Ephraim – twice fruitful – “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” (Genesis 41:52, NIV)
He had this figured out still years before he met his family again.
I find this story amazing and an abundant source of hope.
How about you?
You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!
“Joseph you’ve got potential.”
Character and potential are two great words when you haven’t lived under them for years.
My kids grew tired of the phrase, “It’s building character.”
‘For once let me live without character,’ they would say, apparently expressing fatigue.
Truth be told, there was a time when I despised the word potential. On the one hand, I was thrilled that people saw hope in me for future but on the other, I wanted to be able to show them a completed product.
Sometimes the process and processing just suck, it doesn’t lend to a positive attitude and often feels long and hard.
We do get tired and don’t want to make the exchange, but we do want to have the life where character and potential are finally realized.
Joseph was in a potential building and character-revealing phase of his life for over thirteen years.
Did it pay off? With dividends to spare!
Will it pay off for you? As long as there are Egypt’s to manage, and as long as there are futures to be had, I think there is a payoff for the one who stays at it.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9, NIV)
I can see; You have potential.
You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!
The word dream can have a different meaning to different people.
“I have a dream” by Martin Luther King was vastly different than my waking up moments this morning.
I woke up feeling like I had been on a movie set of scripts and roles all night. It was delightfully exhausting. Idea after idea rolled out scene after scene unfolded, but I don’t remember a single one now that I’m awake.
For Joseph’s dream to leave the script of an idea and join the real world, many players many physical realities had to be moved and altered. That meant time; that meant energy; that meant processing for everyone involved. It had to go from what is now to what will be. That meant things had to change, and change is very problematic for the routine.
You probably don’t like change any more than I do, but I want my dreams fulfilled. Not the pleasant dreams I can’t remember from last night, but the ones that are shaping my life and ‘firing my jets.’ The dreams of change, distinction, meaning and significance, those dreams that if uttered might bring risk, challenge, and embarrassment because how dare I? How dare you?
What dreams are making room for you? What secret space of incredible is waiting for you and your “more than all we ask or imagine?” “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)
Remember, change takes time.
You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!
“Get changed! Get shaved. The king wants to see you now!”
You waited and waited, and then you waited some more, now things are moving so fast you hardly know you are involved.
This was Joseph’s breakthrough moment, well; this was the moment when all things changed.
Joseph’s breakthrough moment happened earlier. I wasn’t there, neither were you. Joseph in the privacy of his privacy had his wrestle with God and with no one else. He wrestled with the same God that changed his dad and the way he walked. How do we know? Joseph held his values. They came out his mouth every time there was an opportunity. It used to be he had a dream and was going to be… Now, God is the interpreter of dreams.
There still was a common thread, dreams. Joseph never gave up on his dream. I’m sure that the dream became very refined, but Joseph knew that God had given it, and he knew that God would now interpret it. He just didn’t know when.
Finally, we get to see the breakthrough.
The king’s dream must have been very compelling and convincing. He moved the entire responsibility of the Egyptian economy into Joseph’s care before a single crisis ensued.
We now read the story within a fifteen to twenty minute sitting and if we are not careful will miss the magnitude of what God did in, to, and for Joseph. We will miss what God did in, to, and for Pharaoh. We will miss what God did in, to, and for Jacob. Oh yes and remember those boys? We might miss what God did in, to, and for them.
You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!
Joseph was robbed of his identity as the favoured son; they stole his coat to show it.
Joseph refused to be identified as a traitor and an adulterer; he abandoned his cloak to prove it.
Joseph became the ruler of the land; the garments of royalty declared it.
It took thirteen years and three coats for Joseph to discover his identity.
It would be easy for someone in his sandals to lose heart, to be forced to accept the overwhelming circumstances, to be compelled to give up, but the clothes of authority that he needed to wear demanded success; the leader that he was called to be required no less.
Identity is no easy assignment; it seems to bring with it the very struggle that could derail it. Joseph could have quit, and we would never have known. Conversely we also never would be taking courage from this story of the Amazing.
God was at work in Joseph’s life; growing up he saw his dad struggle with God, and he must have learned it well.
“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.” (Acts 7:9-10, NIV)
We are instructed in the scriptures that God does not show favouritism. That means that what he does for one he will do for others. That means:
God is at work in your life!
He calls you son, and he calls you daughter he identifies you as his.
What clothes do you need to put on?
You Don’t Have To Live; You get To!