The Story - Week 3

I love the story of Joseph. It all ends so wonderfully. Joseph ends up with the last laugh! His dreams of grandeur come true. His father's preferential treatment is validated. The expression, "All's well that ends well" never depicted a story so fittingly.

I love the story, at least I love the ending. The process is not so endearing. Joseph was sold off by his brothers, forgotten by his jail-mate, and falsely accused by his boss's wife. He found himself in pits and prisons. His coat of many colors was torn and bathed in blood. For a good portion of his life he lived without the support of family. For all he knew his family had just let him go without any effort to find him. He lived in a foreign land where his dreams of success must have been fading fast.

Yet Joseph somehow kept those dreams alive and perhaps it was those dreams that kept HIM alive!

When we stop envisioning a better future then our present is bound to be full of anguish. All the despair, all the betrayals, all the pits we find ourselves in need to be interpreted by the dreams that God has placed in our hearts - dreams of success. Isn't this what Joseph means when he reveals himself to his brothers and instead of blaming and accusing he says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good"? When the dreams seemed as good as dead, they were still very much alive in the mind of God.

All the while Joseph must have had held on to the hope that God was moving him to a happy ending and nothing could stop that from happening. Paul reaffirms this thought in Romans 8:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose…What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, don’t give into despair; don't think that God has abandoned you. The process is sometimes very painful but happy endings come to those who keep the dream alive.

For two inspirational videos on people who successfully endured the process see the sites below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu42EN42zEQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sch3QAt3iVc