Whisper Of God Ministries

Making Lemonade

This week we continue in Genesis 34-44. Now we are looking at the life of Joseph. He is one of two main characters in the Old Testament about whom nothing bad is ever reported. Joseph’s life occupies almost the last third of Genesis. He is a character worthy of intense study.

I am reminded of the saying I learned as a child, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” While not a theological gem, this quip is very well illustrated in the life of Joseph. Let’s look at a brief recap. First he is hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. He lands as a slave in an official’s house in Egypt. Then the man’s wife tries to seduce him and he is sent to prison. His friend from prison forgets about him, and he lingers there for two more years after his friend is released. Finally, he gets out so he can give the pharaoh of Egypt bad news. It seems that Joseph cannot catch a break.

What I want to concentrate on today is what Joseph did each time life seemed to turn against him. Amazingly, Joseph stays faithful to God no matter what happens to him. He had to beg for his life before his own family decided not to kill him but to simply sell him into slavery. As a new Hebrew slave not knowing the language, he would have been at the bottom in Potiphar’s household, but Joseph remained faithful to God in all that he did. In working hard as if for the Lord, God blesses him. Before long he is the head of Potiphar’s household. In fact, the Bible tells us that Potiphar does not concern himself with anything at all except the food he eats as long as Joseph is in charge. This may well have been why Potiphar’s neglected wife goes after Joseph.

When Joseph is thrown in prison, even though he did nothing wrong and everything right, he could very easily give up on his God. After all, his family had sold him into slavery when he had done nothing wrong and now he is in prison in a foreign country for a crime he did not commit, but Joseph stays faithful to God, and He blesses him. In fact, Joseph does so well in prison that the warden puts him in charge there. The Bible again tells us that the warden does not concern himself with anything in the prison as long as Joseph is in charge.

When Joseph finally gets to come out from prison to interpret the pharaoh’s dreams, he could have easily been vindictive against the cupbearer and mad at the world. Instead, Joseph brings glory to God in telling the pharaoh that it is God who will reveal his dreams. He could have taken the credit himself. He had no idea if he would get out of prison after he explained to pharaoh the dreams, but he boldly tells him that it will not be Joseph interpreting but the Lord. For his faithfulness and honesty, Joseph is put in charge of all of Egypt. In fact, the Bible tells us that the pharaoh does not concern himself with all of Egypt as long as Joseph is in charge.

What do we learn here? Certainly it is not the lesson of a prosperity Gospel. Not all of us are rewarded as Joseph was for our faithfulness. What we do learn from this great saint is that no matter what the circumstances, we can serve God wherever we are. We can work in all that we are given for His Glory.
One of my favorite books and perhaps my first Christian book I ever read outside the Bible was entitled, Practicing the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence. As a monk, his job was washing the dishes. Let’s face it, in a monastery that is a pretty lowly job. He writes in a letter to a friend that he has learned to experience God, even in the midst of clanging pans while washing dishes, at the same level as he does in communion. For Brother Lawrence, God’s presence is in everything he did – no matter how menial the job. Joseph was like that. No matter where Providence took him, he found God there. He made lemonade wherever he went.

Can you say the same thing about your attitude and relationship with God? We so often want to praise Him when things are great and blame Him when things are bad. Not Joseph. He always found a way to bring God glory, to stay faithful, in good times and bad times. He kept his eyes on God. Can you do that this week as well?

The Providential “Accident”

This week our reading has taken us over Genesis 23–33. These chapters cover some great stories in the life of the Patriarchs. If you are reading through the entire Bible, you are further along. Keep up the great effort no matter which plan you are reading. God is already opening doors for people from his Word.

In Chapter 28 of Genesis, we find an interesting story about Jacob. Isaac had commanded Jacob to not marry a Canaanite woman but to return to his family back in northwest Mesopotamia where the family of his mother Rebekah lived. As Jacob returns, he stops for the night when the sun goes down. He takes a stone for a pillow and goes to sleep. During the night, Jacob has a dream. In his dream, he sees a ladder or stairway reaching from earth to heaven with angels going up and down the stairway. The LORD is standing at the top of the stairway and he gives Jacob a blessing. Most commentaries would tell us that Jacob had not been converted to God at this point in his life. His conversion will come later when he wrestles with God over in chapter 32. Here God blesses him before he converts him. He promises Jacob that he will give his many descendents the land, that all people will be blessed through his line, and that he will never leave him until all that he has promised has been fulfilled. We lovingly refer to this story as Jacob’s Ladder.

What I want us to look briefly at this morning is Jacob’s reply in verses 16-17. Jacob says, “ ‘Surely the LORD was in this place, and I was not aware of it.’” How often we all fall into this same trap. We see life as just moving along, often times without purpose or even meaning. We miss God’s providential hand completely as we concentrate on our own happiness and satisfaction. Or, as is often the case, we are in trouble or have some misfortune. We feel all alone and on our own. Like Jacob, we are completely unaware of the presence of God in our lives. And yet he is always there, even in the mists of our trials and difficulties. He is an ever-present help. As with Jacob, only after we have come through our situation do we then realize that He was there all along.

When we come to the New Testament, we again find reference to this Old Testament story when Christ calls Nathanael. Here Christ tells his disciple that he is the fulfillment of Jacob’s Ladder. In the first story, God is promising Jacob that He will be his God and fulfill all of the promises He has made to him. Now we see Christ as the ultimate mediator between heaven and earth. Through Christ, mankind has access to God in heaven. Christ is the way to the Father. Is he for you? Have you made that complete commitment to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. I don’t mean just acknowledging his presence as Jacob did. I am speaking here of a deep and total sellout to Jesus to come into your life, forgive your sins and wash them away by His blood that was shed for you on the Cross. If you have then you will know that God is with you. You won’t need hindsight to realize that His hand is always in your life.

The Obedience of Isaac

This week we have covered chapters 12 – 22 in Genesis. I hope that as you are doing the 14 - book plan that the slower pace is giving you more opportunity to reflect on what you read. Remember, it takes several weeks to form a habit so keep reading and praying each day. As I told our congregation the other day, there is nothing in your day more important than your time with Jesus – NOTHING. Keep that appointment and your time with him will become the most precious time of your day. I remember reading somewhere that Martin Luther used to pray and read two hours a day. However, when he had a particularly busy day that promised to be hectic, he would pray and read for four hours.

I want to look at the 22nd chapter of Genesis this week. We know the chapter well because it is the story of Abraham’s testing by God. Remember that Abraham has been promised a son through whom his offspring would number more than the sand or the stars. He had tried to rush God and committed a sin by having a son with his wife’s servant Hagar. Ishmael was not the promised son. Finally in her old age, Sarah bears Isaac for Abraham. The promised heir has arrived. Then God calls Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. We have heard sermons on Abraham’s great faith in carrying out God’s plan, but what I want to point out briefly today is Isaac’s great obedience.

In many ways, Isaac is a shadow of Christ. Now, we are not sure exactly what Isaac’s age was – the word in Hebrew can mean an infant to a young man of military age, but we must assume that he was old enough and big enough to carry all the wood for the burnt offering on his shoulders as the Bible says. Here we see a young man who faithfully follows his father’s word and dutifully fulfills what his father asks of him. We do not read anywhere that Isaac objects or fights with his father even when Abraham binds him and places him on the altar, and raises his knife to kill him. Isaac trusts his father and his father’s answer that “God himself will provide the lamb.”

Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the Sacrificial Lamb. He willingly went to the cross because of the command of his father. He allowed himself to be bound. He even allowed himself to be killed in completion of his father’s plan of salvation for you and me. Christ willingly went to the cross and took upon himself your sins and mine. He accepted your punishment because of his great love for all who call him Lord and Savior.

How obedient are you to your Heavenly Father’s call upon your life? Few of us will ever have the privilege of dying for the cause of Christ. However, God has a call upon your life that involves Kingdom work. Will you listen to that call? Will you follow his will for your life or do you value your own comfort more than the cause of Christ? Will you, like Isaac, willingly follow your father’s will no matter what the consequences? Are you willing to have your comforts and ease of life bound up and sacrificed on the altar of God so that you can labor for his Kingdom and Cause? Will you sacrifice all you have when he calls on you to do so? Like Isaac, my prayer is that I will faithfully obey in eager action all that He bids me to do for him.

Genesis 1-11

This week we have taken a look at the first 11 chapters of Genesis. If you would like to read an overview of Genesis or any of the books we will study this year, please go to our website – www.WhsiperofGod.org. There you will find all the book overviews. As you read, it is always helpful to write down any new insights that the Lord provides to you. Remember that each passage has one meaning but there can be many different applications to your life and mine. The Bible is timeless truth with a timely message.

There are many things we could touch on from this passage but I want to concentrate on one thing for you to meditate on as you reflect on these chapters. In Genesis 2:9a we read “And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” God put Beauty and Function into his creation. So often we take for granted that function is in creation because we constantly study creation through the lens of science. However, we forget altogether that beauty is a part of creation as well. Beauty, like truth, finds its source in God himself. We read in Genesis 1 that after each day of creation, God saw what he had made and pronounced that it was “good.” So often we hear the expression that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but I would disagree. Beauty flows from our Great Creator. He has assigned beauty to his creation. Order, symmetry, color, and texture all make up what God calls “good.” Psalm 27:4 reads, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

The author FW Boreham comments in his work on the 23rd Psalm entitled In Pastures Green, that “Of all the colours, green is the most restful. What a dreadful place the world would be if the grass of the fields and the leaves of the forest were any colour but green… Our eyes would tire and ache.” God creates in perfection. Here in the Garden of Eden, he gives to Adam and Eve both function and beauty. The trees were good for fruit to eat, but they also served another purpose, they were pleasing to look at. Why? I believe it is because as we are made in God’s image, we are also given the need to see and appreciate beauty. Humans are creative by nature. We love to make things. We cannot create objects but we can use the God-given objects of creation to make things. He has put the desire for beauty in our hearts and souls.

When was the last time you appreciated the beauty of your God? When was the last time that you marveled at his handiwork? There are books that show some of the beauty that God has put into our created world, but you don’t have to look far to see his work. Walk outside and look at the world around you. Look at the stars above. We serve a God of beauty and everything he touches becomes beautiful because of His presence. Do you possess the gift of salvation in your heart? Does God dwell there? Is Christ a part of your being? If you do, you are a child of God, a child of a beautiful Father.