The Journey

Photo by Alin Meceanu James 1:5 - 8 " If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,  who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.   But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt,  because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.   That person should not expect to receive anything from the L ord.   Such a person is double-minded  and unstable  in all they do." I have read this passage many times over the years and I have likely heard it recited many more times. I always looked at the verse as a general context for believing God for anything we ask of Him. However, this week the passage in James was illuminated to me in an entirely different light ministering to me in a life-changing way.  Begrudgingly, I woke up on Saturday morning, collapsed on my sofa, and opened my Bible. I prayed, "God, I need something from You this morning. I need nourishment from Your Word. I jus...

I've so enjoyed the study of Joseph, thus far.  For me, it has been much like finding a treasure chest, cautiously opening the lid, peering in trying to see everything the chest holds.  Layers upon layers, depths upon depths, discovering and analyzing every part of his life recounted in the Bible like examining small gemstones or more accurately witnessing the most beautiful diamond being formed amidst the ugliest circumstances.  "Natural diamonds are formed about 100 miles beneath the earth's surface where carbon rich rocks are melted by the heat of the earth's mantle, a layer of liquid lava rock, and are compressed by the enormous pressure of the many miles of earth above them. As the earth churns, the heated rock may move upwards away from the heat and cool over time, which can form diamonds if the conditions are just right. It takes hundreds of thousands of years for the process to take place." (ehow.google)  To simplify--high temperature, high pressur...

Now that we've looked at Joseph's perilous years as a whole, I want to dissect his biblical biography a little more.  Let's look at the boy dreamer. Scripture tells us that right on the heels of receiving a beautiful coat from his father, Joseph had two prophetic dreams which he insensibly shared with his brothers.  In each dream, his family, represented by sheaves of grain in the first and the sun, moon and stars in the second, were bowing before Joseph.  So, here we have the young man likely adorned in his beautiful, new coat telling the boorish brothers we've studied about thus far, that he would one day rule over them.  This audience of choice was probably not the best.  Before the dreams, the Bible tells us the brothers "could not speak a kind word to him."  Genesis 37:8 tells us, "they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said." Ponder this...even though we know God had a divine plan for Joseph and had ordered his st...

Have you ever felt like the moment you begin to make progress in life or at your job or even in relationships you inevitably end up up-ended??? I have...several times especially in recent years.  I told someone just the other day, "It seems as soon as I finally start making headway, gaining speed, feet finally leaving the ground, BAM--back on my hind end.  Then, it is just as Ray Charles sang,"Here we go, again."  God, why? Then, I read about Joseph in the ending chapters of Genesis.  Wrongly accused numerous times over the years, his story unfolds with an almost fairy tale ending blessed with a life "above what he could dare think or imagine."  (Ephesians 3:20)  Journey with me through the perils of Joseph, the man "God sent ahead to preserve life."  (Genesis 45:7) As we know the story begins with a young Joseph, his father's favorite, who we have to believe was either very boastful because of pride or si...

The story of the "coat of many colors" has been told and retold mostly in Sunday school lessons.  In researching the story of Joseph, I find conflicting information as to how the beautiful coat looked.  Some say it was a patchwork design while others believe it to be striped with varying colors.  By scripture, this is what we do know.  Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his brothers and so "he made a richly ornamented robe for him."  The passage, Genesis 37, goes on to tell us, "When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him."  Before I began to dig into this story, I knew the brothers were jealous of Joseph, but I didn't understand why a coat could cause such dissension in this band of brothers.  So much, in fact, they couldn't even be nice to Joseph.  However, I find a coat during these times was more than just a coat.  The symbolism is intr...

Just as Joseph's parental roots are vital to his story, the branches of the family tree also lend importance.  Joseph was one of twelve boys.  Considering Biblical times and culture, one must believe Jacob was blessed of God to have had so many sons!  Imagine now all those young men vying for their father's attention.  Each wanting to likely follow in his footsteps, but knowing none of them more precious to the head of the large family as the two born of Rachel, their father's true love.  Remember four of these boys were born of Jacob's concubines.  Can't you just smell all of that testosterone, not to mention the shepherds' clothing?  Whew!  There was also a daughter, Dinah, born of Leah.  Shortly after the family had moved to a town in Canaan,  Dinah went out into the city unattended to visit with the girls in their new hometown for her father had bought the land where they pitched their tents.  While...

"We must begin at the beginning..."  ~Plato Before delving into the "guts" of Joseph's story, let's begin with the story of his father, Jacob, who would later be known as Israel, and his mother, Rachael.  To understand the child, I think you must first look at the parents.  Their story is a tale of classic romance.  Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, falls madly in love with Rachael, a shepherdess.  Scripture tells us she was "lovely in form, and beautiful." (Genesis 29:18)  Jacob agrees to work for her father for seven years in exchange for her hand in marriage although he probably should have gotten this arrangement in writing.  At the end of seven years and after the celebratory marriage feast, Jacob awoke to the wrong sister.  His new father-in-law had given Leah, his older daughter, to Jacob rather than Rachael citing custom and tradition called for the older daughter to be married first.  So, Jacob agrees to put in yet another seven...