The Outcome is Yours
My grandson, Nate
The Outcome is Yours
Genesis 40 & 41
Joseph, lesson 13
Joseph is in jail where the king's prisoners are held. Joseph interprets the dreams of the king’s cupbearer and the king’s baker. The cupbearer will be raised by up to serve the king again within three days. The baker will be hanged to death in three days. Joseph’s interpretations come true. He asks the cupbearer to remember him and speak to the king on his behalf. The text says; However, the cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Two years later, in God’s perfect timing, the Pharoah has a dream and is perplexed. The cupbearer remembered Joseph and tells Pharoah about him. The king calls Joseph, he interprets his dream and the king honors him with great responsibilities and gifts. Read more
Fancy Meeting You Here!
Fancy Meeting You Here!
Genesis 40
Joseph, lesson 12
When Leigh and I meet new couples, we love to ask about the situations surrounding their initial meeting of each other. It is always interesting and unique. Yes, sometimes they give a quick and routine response; we met at church, we met at a bar; we meet through an on-line dating service; friends introduced us, etc. But if we add a few questions and take the conversation of their “routine” chance meeting further, we always discover an amazing story of providence and destiny.
On certain occasions, I will pick up my copy of Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology. As you may know, I fancy myself as a Theologian of miniscule proportion. So, on occasion when I enthusiastically pick up this nearly 800 page volume of scholarly Theology written in the late 1940’s, my first priority is to make it look somewhat used and maybe mark it up a little with underlines and notations. That way, if someone is ever glancing at my library, they will notice the worn volume and marvel at my scholarly aspirations and theological acuity. (I hope you appreciate my attempt at sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. However, as you know, there is usually a grain of truth in most attempts at sarcasm and now you know one of my deeply hidden vulnerabilities of vanity). Read more
I Am With You
I Am With You
Genesis 39
Joseph, lesson 11
But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. 39:21-23
In the on-going story of God’s Providence in the life of Joseph and the family of Jacob, God allows Joseph to be falsely accused and thrown in jail. These narratives are like screenplays. We don’t read of the scene from Joseph’s viewpoint. We read of it from God’s viewpoint. The narrative doesn’t describe the feelings of Joseph and detail the scene from his standpoint in jail. For all we know, Joseph wailed in self-pity and turned on God in His mind. I don’t think so as I’ve always assumed Joseph acted righteously because God blessed Him with kindness. But the text doesn’t not specifically say that. Read more
The King’s Prisoners
These are friends of ours. Graduates of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, being clothed with new attire for their new lives! What a beautiful picture of redemption!
The King’s Prisoners
Genesis 39
Joseph, lesson 10
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?’
As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. She caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ and he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, ‘See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.’ So, she left his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him...So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. Genesis 39:6-20 Read more
Found Faithful
Yesterday I walked into my office after a meeting and set down my note pad and bottle of water. A few minutes later I glanced over and my water bottle was like this.
Found Faithful
Genesis 39
Joseph, lesson 11
Joseph had a way of endearing himself to those in authority. He did it first in his own household where his father, Jacob, loved him more than his brothers and trusted Joseph to report back to him all that the brothers were doing. Now, under a tumultuous turn of events, Joseph finds himself as a slave in the home of very powerful man in Egypt. Joseph is elevated to authority in the household of the Egyptian. There was something about Joseph that engendered confidence from others. In a word, he was trustworthy. In my experience, this characteristic will open up doors of advancement more than anything. Read more
Providence
Nate and Ryker in the Texas Hill Country
Providence
Genesis 39
Joseph, lesson 10
Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So, Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant, and he made him overseer over his house and all that he owned he put in his charge. It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus, the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.
So, he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. 39:3-6
So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 39:20,21 Read more
Door to Door
This pic is a flashback about 8 years when Nate was about 2 years old.
Door to Door
Genesis 39
Joseph, lesson 9
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So, Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant, and he made him overseer over his house and all that he owned he put in his charge. It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus, the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.
So, he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate.
This narrative of Joseph reminds me of a certain time in my life. After College graduation from Pacific Christian College, I was in Youth Ministry from age 22 to 32. During that time, in my late 20’s, in between ministry jobs, in order to make enough money to support my family, I hit the streets selling burglary alarm systems to businesses. It was a trying time for me and at the same time, one of the most valuable lessons of my life. I would park my car at the end of the street and go door-to-door to each business. Bottomline, my skills as a sales person were lacking significantly. But what I lacked in skill, I made up with perseverance. I couldn’t quit. This was a commission-only sales job. I had a wife and two-year-old daughter who were dependent upon me to pay the rent and put food on the table. Read more
Weird
Weird
Joseph, lesson 8
Genesis 38
This is a weird chapter in the Bible. This chapter is one that makes us shake our heads and say, ‘the Old Testament is just weird sometimes.’ I was tempted to skip over it, not really ‘getting it’. It’s not initially intuitive as to why it appears in the middle of the story of Joseph. But I always go back to my strong belief that God’s Word is sound, pure, without error and there is always a reason for its sequence and content. This isn’t a ‘blind faith’ belief. There is textual science behind my belief as well as a strong dose of faith. But that topic is for another type of post. For today, please read through my post as I eventually discovered a pretty cool truth about our Savior.
Genesis 37 is all about Joseph. We are just getting into the story and then this chapter takes a sharp left turn into the sinful attics of Jacobs other son and heir to the birthright of promise, Judah. From Judah, the line of king David and ultimately the Messiah is to come. But Judah doesn’t care. He departs from his family and his brothers and integrates himself into a pagan culture. Read more
Crime and Punishment
Downtown Houston
Crime and Punishment
Joseph, Lesson 7
Who can understand the death of one’s child? Who can know what it is like unless you have gone through it? What pain and anguish it must be? Do you ever recover? Time heals, I suppose, but never completely.
So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they took the vari-colored tunic and bought it to their father and said, ‘We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.’ Then he examined it and said, ‘it is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!’ So Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, ‘Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.’ So his father wept for him. Read more