Category Archives: Essential 100

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Yeah…About Those Blessings

Essential 100—Read:
Exodus 1:1-2:25

“Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become much too numerous for us.’” ~Exodus 1:6-9

The purpose of Exodus 1 is to set up the story told in the rest of Exodus clear through the book of Deuteronomy—the delivery and birth of the nation of Israel. Specifically, this first chapter sets the stage for Israel’s misery under Pharaoh and the rise of their leader, Moses.

Now the greatness and power of God demonstrated through the deliverance of Israel from Egypt along with the incredible leadership skills that were developed in Moses through the life-changing encounters he had with God would not have been possible without chapter one of Exodus: The descent of Israel into Egyptian bondage.

Of course, that reminds us of an undeniable and sometimes uncomfortable truth about God: He works in mysterious ways. Sometimes the blessings he gives us bring about the discomforts we try to avoid; sometimes those very discomforts are the blessings, albeit in disguise. We saw this powerfully illustrated in Genesis, where God sovereignly preserved Jacob’s family from famine in Egypt only by first sovereignly allowing Joseph to be sold into slavery in Egypt years earlier.

We find in Exodus 1:1-14 that God has blessed Jacobs’ family in such an extraordinary way that they literally become a great nation. Yet those very blessings—their explosive growth and economic prosperity—are now the things that threatens Israel’s host nation, Egypt, who ultimately responds by forcing the Israelites into slavery and bondage.

God’s blessings end up causing Israel great discomfort and hardship—but in all of this God is setting the stage for a deliverer, Moses, whose story we will read in Exodus 2.

So what is the greater point to all of this? God’s blessings sometimes bring discomfort. However, discomfort is often the seed-bed from which God’s greater blessing grows.

We must come to understand, in spite of unwanted and uncomfortable circumstances, that God is faithful—always.  We need to establish that truth in our hearts and minds ahead of time and never let that settled law be challenged when our circumstances take an unexpected and undesired turn.  We need to learn to keep our eyes fixed on the faithfulness of God during those times of difficulty. I love how the hymn-writer, Maltbie Babcock, so eloquently put it,

 This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget;
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.

And not only is God faithful, he is also watchful.  Even when the storms of life prevent you from seeing God, he sees you.

Furthermore, not only is God faithful and watchful, never forget that he is always at work. Even in Israel’s years of bondage and slavery, God is preparing to reveal his glory and his greatness at a future time in ways unmatched even to this day.  So even when it seems like God is not in our circumstances, we can be assured that he is at work, setting the stage for a greater purpose that could only be revealed as a result of what we are experiencing in the present.  As Henry Ward Beecher said,

“Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.”

Got any troubles at the moment? Just remember, they are God’s tool! And when he is through crafting you, you are going to make quite a fashion statement.

Reflect and Apply:  Let me suggest you offer this prayer, or one similar, to God: “Lord, develop in me the faith to always see through my circumstances, no matter how difficult they may be, to see your hand at work, setting the stage to reveal your glory.  Help me to obey, even when to obey would allow those circumstances to threaten my health or happiness.  And Lord, open my eyes to see and receive your blessing when it would seem impossible that blessings could happen.”

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Useful Idiots

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 45:1-46:7

“Don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.” ~Genesis 45:5 (NLT)

Useful idiots! With all due respect, that’s what I would call Joseph’s brothers.

Twenty-two years after they had sold him into slavery, the brothers are now standing before Joseph, and they don’t even recognize him. They have been blinded by two decades of thinking he had long since died, their perspective jaded by the haunting fear, guilt and shame of what they had done. (Genesis 44:16) Finally, it is time for the big reveal, and the expected reaction would be that he would now exact revenge, make them pay dearly, and do to them what they had done to him.

But Joseph was cut from a different cloth than these lousy brothers. His submission to the sovereignty of God allowed him to see the pain they had inflicted not merely through his own perspective alone, but through a perspective that saw God working through their evil actions. Joseph recognized that in all the circumstances of life, big and small, good and bad, God had been inexorably bringing the currents of his personal history to a providential conclusion.

Joseph’s submission to the sovereignty of God is revealed three times as he discloses himself to his brothers with words to this effect: “Don’t beat yourself up; it was God, not you, who sent me here. You had a plan and God had a plan, and God’s plan trumped yours. You were simply unwitting but useful instruments in his hands.” (Genesis 45:5,7,8). Joseph’s brothers might have been idiots for selling him into slavery twenty-two years before, but they were useful idiots in the hands of the Providential Ruler of all mankind.

The bottom line to Joseph’s story is that God is in control. He turns what is meant for evil to our good, extracts glory for himself even in the most impossible circumstances, and no matter what, always, always, always fulfills his sovereign purposes. His is in control! He is the Sovereign God of the universe, the Providential Ruler over the affairs, big and small, of all mankind, the Incomparable One who works all things for his glory.

And here’s the kicker: He works all things not only for his own glory—but for your good! That’s right—for your good. Now why would the Sovereign, Providential, Incomparable One bother with little old you? Simply because you’ve surrendered your life to him; and when you did that, you, perhaps even unwittingly, signed up to be on his sovereign plan.

So here’s the deal: If you have a few idiots making your life difficult, just remember, in God’s hands they are useful idiots.

Reflect and Apply: Perhaps, like Joseph, people close to you have deeply hurt you. To trust that God will use what was hurtful for his glory and your good may be the hardest thing in the world for you to do right now—but do it anyway. To grow bitter and withhold forgiveness is not only to discount the Sovereignty of God, it is to actively work against it—and that is always bad for you. As Anne Lamont says, “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” So don’t be a rat.

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You’ll Get Rained On

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 43:1-44:34

“Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, ‘Go back and buy us a little more food.’” ~Genesis 43:1-2

In Matthew 5:45, Jesus said something of the universal goodness and common grace of God, to which we all nod in glad agreement, pointing out that our Heavenly Father “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” But what happens when, as children of our Father in heaven, the same God-sent rain that causes the crops to sprout rains on our parade? Or, switching analogies, what happens when that same sun that warms the body beats down mercilessly upon not only the heads of the unjust, but on the just as well, as in the case of the Jacob and his family?

If you are like me—even though I know better—I begin to question God’s goodness and his personal love for me. When unfair and unwanted circumstance find their way into my life, my sense of fairness is assaulted and my assumption that bad things shouldn’t happen to good people is shocked back to reality. I know better, but I still tend to drift into that ditch. I’ll bet you do too.

In truth, bad things happen to good and bad people alike. I don’t like that, but that’s the way it always has been and always will be in this world broken by sin we live in for the time being. Jacob and his family, flawed as they were, found themselves suffering the same famine as the wicked, godless people of Egypt were enduring. Bummer—the same sun that torched the Egyptians scorched the Israelites.

But here’s where the redeeming benefits of being the children of our Father in heaven kick in: He didn’t promise to keep us from either the famine or the storm, but he did promise to bring us through them. Moreover, he promised to actually use them to bring about his good plan—both his larger plan for the world and his personal plan for our lives—through our problems in ways that otherwise wouldn’t be produced if we had been preserved from them.

Now I don’t always understand why he works that way, and I certainly wouldn’t do it that way if I were God—but I am not. And when I step back from my childish expectation and shortsighted perspective, I can see that God has a long and perfect track record of bringing his people through their painful difficulties to a glorious conclusion. And because of that exemplary record of faithfulness and goodness, in the words of Corrie Ten Boom, I will never need to “be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” He will see me through, no matter how uncertain my future may seem.

Jacob and his sons were scorched by a famine, and though they could not see the guiding hand of God in their desperate time of need, nonetheless, God was at work, maneuvering them, both in the short term and for the long run, to a place of greater blessing and greater usefulness.

And as far as you are concerned, even when the same famine that is touching the evil is touching you—even when your parade is getting rained on, you can trust him. Seriously!

So start singing in the rain!

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ~Soren Kierkegaard

Reflect and Apply: If you are praying for relief from an unpleasant and unwanted circumstance and God is not bringing relief as quickly as you would like, realize that he may be leading you to a place of greater blessing and greater usefulness. Why not take a moment to rejoice in advance?

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Leave Your Load Of Guilt

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 42:1-38

“Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’ … ‘Everything is against me!’” ~Genesis 42:28 & 36

If you’ve been around the Bible much, you know this story well. Joseph’s brothers, out of envy, anger and hatred, sold Joseph into slavery to nomads travelling to Egypt. A decade or two later, unknown to the brothers, Joseph has made an improbable rise to power, and now sits as second in command of the most powerful nation on earth.

Now forced to scrounge for food in Egypt during a severe famine, the tables are turned on the brothers: they stand face-to-face with Joseph, first bowing before him (a fulfillment of Joseph’s dream, the one that originally got him into hot water with the brothers), then begging for food, and ultimately begging for their very lives. And all the time their minds cannot fathom that it is actually Joseph before whom they are pleading.

There are so many things we could say about this chapter and its larger context: We could talk about the sovereignty of God that allowed Joseph’s mistreatment in prior years as the very means to preserve his family down the road. Or we could focus on how God always squeezes good out of evil for his children. Or we could highlight how Joseph remained faithful and useful to God even when the evidence suggested that God had abandoned him. Or we could admire how Joseph left retribution, revenge and judgment in God’s hands, even when the best of men would have been tempted to exact a pound of flesh from these ornery brothers once Joseph had them dead to rights.

And don’t miss the application in all of those relevant truths: God will do that for you, too, if you will trust him with your life—both in the good times and especially in the bad when the evidence seems contrary to a loving God who is supposed to be in control.

But the one feature of this particular part of the story that intrigues me is the load of guilt this family carried for all those years.  Obviously they were paralyzed by regret, the fear of receiving their just deserts and the onerous sense that they will have to pay an impossible price to make up for their evil actions in the past:

Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” (Genesis 42:26)

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” (Genesis 42:36)

Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring Benjamin back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” (Genesis 42:37)

So does the story of these messed up brothers serve as a cautionary tale for you and me?  And if so, what are the lessons we can learn from them?  Three things:

First, as it relates to the brothers, no sinful action is worth the satisfaction or pleasure it falsely promises—ever! The guilt, harm and forfeiture of God’s blessings are a horrible crop to reap at some point down the road, either sooner or perhaps later,.

Second, as it relates to Jacob and his lingering dread, no child of God needs to fear a horrible harvest for past sins. God specializes in crop failures. Sure, there are consequences for sin sometimes, but God promises to turn even those to our good if we “have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Third, as it relates to Reuben’s assumption that he could assuage divine punishment, no personal sacrifice for sin will be needed for the child of God to cancel his punishment since God sent his very own Son, of whom Joseph was a type, to once and for all pay the price to satisfy God’s righteous wrath rightly directed at our sin. (Hebrews 10:8-14)

I’m so glad to be a follower of Jesus and not a child of Jacob, aren’t you? God’s unlimited, unmerited grace, purchased by Christ’s sacrificial death and guaranteed by his glorious resurrection, is a far better way traverse the ups and downs of life.

“The law works fear and wrath; grace works hope and mercy.” ~Martin Luther

Reflect and Apply: If you are living under a load of guilt and fear, or the sense that somehow you must make it up to God, meditate on and pray these truths back to God: Guilt—Romans 8:1-4; Fear—I John 1:9, Human effort to appease God—Hebrews 10:8-14.

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A Far Better View

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 39, 40 & 41

“The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him…When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream…So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon.” ~Genesis 40:23, 41:1 & 13

As you read the prison portion of Joseph’s story, you can’t help but be impressed with this young man’s deep and abiding trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God.  Joseph believed in the core of his being that God was in control and that God was fundamentally good, and those beliefs became settled law for Joseph.  Neither his circumstances nor his emotions at the moment would trump the fact that his life was in God’s hands.  So when Joseph’s ticket out of prison, the cupbearer, forgot about him and when Joseph languished for another two years in a squalid Egyptian jail, Joseph trusted.

I would like to think my response to disappointing and hurtful things that will get thrown at me in life would be that same as Joseph’s. I’m guessing you would like to think that about yourself, too. The “Joseph way” is certainly a heroic way to do life—and one that must be so pleasing to the Father who takes such delight in our trust. But to live life like Joseph, you have to understand that there are two views of the road ahead.

The first view comes from a human perspective. That is where you simply and only see what is right in front of you—which means that sometimes all you see are bumps, barriers and big, hairy difficulties. Obviously, it is quite normal to look at the world from such a point of view; you are human, after all.  But if that is the only view you have, you will be prone to discouragement and enslaved to the emotional ups and downs that come from being slapped around by life.

The second view comes from an eternal perspective. That’s the “Joseph way”, and it’s a far better way to see life. The “Joseph way” of viewing life comes only by way of fundamental trust in the care and competence of your Heavenly Father. It understands that while you may be languishing away in your prison of unexpected and undesirable circumstances, God is above it all and he clearly sees the road ahead of you.

If you can’t learn to enfold your human perspective into that kind divine perspective of ruthless trust in the God who is in control of all things and works all things to his glory and your good, get ready for a frustrating stay in Pharaoh’s prison.

If, however, you can order your life by the “Joseph way”, everything that comes your way—especially the bad stuff—becomes fodder for the God who takes what was meant as harm and turns it to good. (Genesis 50:20)

“In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.”  ~Robert Green Ingersoll

Reflect and Apply:  One of my favorite writers, Brennan Manning, poignantly writes, “The splendor of a human heart which trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom. Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for the love of it.”  How would you apply this thought to your circumstance right now?

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Robe Envy

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 37:1-36

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and couldn’t speak a kind word to him.” ~Genesis 37:3-4

One of the most messed up households you’ll ever come across is in the Bible—Jacob’s clan. Now what’s interesting about that is they are the family God chose to be his very own people. In itself, that is quite comforting since most of us come from flawed families—so there is hope for us.

What’s going on in Jacob’s family isn’t unusual. It happens in most every home to some degree. Joseph is favored because he’s the “son of Jacob’s old age”—and one day that favoritism took a concrete form when Jacob gave Joseph the robe.

The Hebrew word for robe is a little uncertain. The New International Version says it was, “a richly ornamented robe”. Other versions call it “a robe with long sleeves” while the King James Version famously translates it, “a coat of many colors”. Jacob got it from Saks; he bought the other boys theirs from K-Mart—on a blue light special.

This robe marked Joseph as dad’s pet, and every time his brothers saw him wear it, they were reminded that their father would never love them like he loved Joseph. And the text tells us three times of their growing “hatred” (Genesis 37:4,5,8); a hatred fueled by jealousy: “His brothers were jealous of him.” (Genesis 37:11)

Jealousy is such a pervasive sin among human beings, yet it is hardest of all sins to recognize. And it is exceedingly destructive! James 3:16 says, “Where you have jealousy … there you find disorder and every evil practice.” Jealousy leads us to do evil. It’s why Cain killed Abel. Abraham’s two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, were torn apart by rivalry. Bitter envy separated Isaac’s two sons, Jacob and Esau. It’s why Saul tried to kill David and the Jews did kill Jesus. (Mark 15:10)

Jealousy is the sense, real or not, that the favor—attention, recognition, reward—another receives somehow diminishes our value. If we’re not careful, the pain of not receiving the robe can do a real number on us. Perhaps you never wore the robe in your family, and even to this day, envy, hatred and jealousy is shrinking your heart, robbing you of joy and diminishing your experience of God’s acceptance.

If that is you, as hurtful and unfair as that experience has been in your life, it should help you to know that the One who saved you, Jesus, knows all about robes!

In his little community of disciples, the peace was often broken by rivalry and envy. And one day Jesus took off his robe, got a basin of water and a towel, and washed their feet. And he showed each of them his love. Yeah, Jesus knew about robes!

Then, because of envy, Jesus was handed over to Pilate, who had soldiers flog him. And they made him a crown of thorns and they mocked him. Then they stripped him of his robe, and crucified him. And hanging on that cross, he showed each of us his love. Yeah, Jesus knew about robes.

Maybe you never wore the robe in your family and maybe you never will in this life, but Revelation 6:11 says a day is coming when you will get a white robe! It was purchased with the blood of the One who willingly gave up his robe so you could wear one, and on that day you will fully know God’s infinite love for you. Yeah, Jesus knows about robes—you will too, one day soon!

Now here’s the deal: You don’t have to wait until then to know the Father’s love. You are wearing the robe right now (Isaiah 61:10)—you just may not realize it yet.

“Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God that man might stand before Him as He was created to do, the friend and lover of God Himself.” ~Oswald Chambers

Reflect and Apply: If you never wore the robe or felt the love or received the affirmation you longed for from your parents, at some point in your life, recognizing and owning up to that pain is the first step to healing. Another step, if possible, will require you to approach your family—parents or siblings—and explain your pain. A further step is to renounce any envious actions, jealous attitudes or guarded woundedness. The final step is learning to receive love and acceptance in new ways by cultivating relationships in your faith community, and especially by learning how to receive it from God!

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Room For Only One Throne

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 32:1-33:20

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” ~Genesis 32:28

There was a day when entertainment didn’t come through the television set; it came through the radio. Believe it or not, I can remember those days—at least the tail end of them. But in the good old days of radio, before my time, the folks were entertained with shows like “The Adventures of Sam Spade”, “Fibber McGee and Molly”, “The Shadow” (“only the Shadow knows—bwahaha“), and of course, “The Lone Ranger.”

The Lone Ranger, who was known as “The Masked Man”, was the greatest! He would ride into town, save the day, then ride off into the sunset with a “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” to the tune of the William Tell Overture. And invariably an awestruck bystander would ask the question, “Who was that Masked Man anyway?”

“Who was that masked man anyway?” may be your response to the mysterious wrestling match that took place between Jacob and the unknown assailant here in Genesis 32:22-32. Of course, if you’ve grown up around the Bible, you’ve been instructed that Jacob’s opponent was God. But when you read the text, that’s not so clear. From Jacob’s perspective, his opponent was nothing more that a man (Genesis 32:24)—perhaps a shadowy assassin from Laban’s clan or a hitman from Esau’s tribe—both men whom Jacob had cheated and who had sufficient reason to “rub out” the cheater!

But as the death match (“wrestling” would be far too tame a term if you were in Jacob shoes) continued through the night, and Jacob held his own against this stranger, it began to dawn on him that this was no mere human he was fighting. As you get to the end of the story and the two opponents finally speak, the stranger is identified—as least vaguely—when Jacob exclaims, “I have seen God face to face.” (Genesis 32:30)

We get a little more insight into the stranger’s identity all the way over in Hosea 12:4, when the prophet writes that it was none other than the Angel of the Lord who was duking it out with Jacob. The Angel of the Lord is identified as God himself throughout Scripture (for instance, Acts 7:30), and has even come to be known in Christian theology as a pre-incarnate revelation of Jesus Christ. So who was that masked man anyway? I think it is safe to say that Jacob was wrestling with none other than Jesus.

Now all that information may be nothing more than relatively useless Bible trivia to you, but there is something in this story with which you and I can identify: Wrestling with God. Jacob wrestled with God, and the essence of the wrestling match was over who was going to run Jacob’s life, and how. It had been clear to Jacob throughout his life that God wanted to bless him, but Jacob, whose name meant “deceiver”, had tried to manipulate and coerce those blessings into reality. Jacob wanted it done his way.

I’ll bet you can relate to that; I sure can. You know that God has promised to bless you, but perhaps you are trying to force his favor according to your timing and to your liking. But it won’t work that way—it never does. God can’t be God of your life if you’re trying to be God of your life, too. There is room for only one throne in your personal world, and guess what, God gets it. When you resist, the wrestling begins.

Learn from Jacob, my friend. The only way to go with God is by way of surrender. Jacob learned that the hard way—and he was left with a lifelong limp—but at the end of the day, Jacob’s fundamental approach to life changed from deceptive striving to faithful obedience. It is the surrender to a life of faithful obedience and ruthless trust that, as Andrew Murray wrote, must become “the essential characteristic of our lives.”

Are you wrestling with God? The sooner you cry “uncle” the better off you’ll be!

“The full acting out of the self’s surrender to God therefore demands pain: this action, to be perfect, must be done from the pure will to obey, in the absence, or in the teeth, of inclination.” ~C.S. Lewis

Reflect and Apply: Consider the quote from C.S. Lewis. Where in your life do you need to surrender to God’s rule? Take that to God—and say “uncle!”