Day 14 - Where do you look when everything is going bad in your life?

GENESIS 37:1-38:30; 39:1-23
1CHRONICLES 2:3-6; 2:8

Where do we look, where do we turn when everything is going bad in our lives? Today I read about Joseph being loved the most by his father, hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, and put into jail after not laying with his boss's wife. Talk about a beginning to adult life! Joseph may not have been the easiest person to be around because of his honesty and because of his dreams. But as a 17 year old boy, did he really deserve to be treated so cruelly by his brothers? He had a lot to learn about life and the world.

Joseph was the youngest of eleven brothers. He was a dreamer. Joseph would tell his brothers about his dreams. His brother became furious that in one of his dreams, even the sun, the moon, and a host of stars (representing his brothers) bowed down before Joseph in obedience. He was favored by not having to tend to the flocks as long and hard as his brothers, the coats he wore were finer and special from their father. Their father helped fuel the jealousy between Joseph's brothers against Joseph! Once the brothers sold him in to slavery, dipped his fine coat in fresh goats blood and took the coat to show their father... they all saw exactly how important Joseph was to Jacob. Though, Jacob never thought to look for his son, he thought he was torn to shreds. So, not only was Joseph sold into slavery, the one that loved him more than anything believed him to be dead and would not be out looking for him to rescue him.

Suppose you were Joseph? Suppose people in your family suddenly turned on you, hurt you, devastated your life, then abandoned you to a cruel and terrible end? How would you feel? Would you be shocked, angry, numb with pain? As Christians we are taught that we should forgive for the wrongs others do to us. Do you say the Lords Prayer "... forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors..."? Forgiveness is so important to us as Christians. I believe that none of us can achieve true forgiveness by ourselves alone. Such inner peace is an amazing gift from God. We can seek such peace by deciding that we want to be able to forgive--with God's help. Deciding we want to forgive is a very important decision but, it is a very difficult one. Some of us go through life, never getting that far. Instead, we cling to our hurt. But, to me, that decision to want to forgive is crucial. This decision is the first step in life's journey to receive the gift of true forgiveness from God. What does that journey consist of? Faith, prayer, love, having an open heart to God, talking with others about our feelings, and looking at our own decisions and if they are wrong, being sorry for them. We can't control or anticipate when God's gift of true inner peace will come to us for a particular hurt in our lives. We can seek that peace. We can prepare ourselves for it spiritually. When people sincerely seek that gift from God, they eventually do receive it.

So, as I continue reading this journey with Joseph being in slavery, continually being put in the worst situations that he could not even imagine, I will continue to remind myself that God is in control. Joseph kept his eyes on God and continually obeyed Him. That is what we are being told to do! How is Joseph going to forgive, how is he going to work through everything his brothers put him through, how will he deal with Potiphar and the lies his wife has spread about him, HOW did he forgive for any of the wrong in his life? Who did he feel love from? He only had his dreams, one place to look, only one person to turn to... And it was God! Where do we look, where do we turn when everything is going bad in our lives? God is our answer, He is the only One that will stand beside, that will be in the depth of our heart, and that will help us to forgive others. Turning to Him is the only direction we need to know.

Very Respectfully,
Leslie Wilson