On the Way to Wonder

Genesis 43-44.  When we have been wronged and betrayed and relationships broken, it is hard to deal with the resulting anger and bitterness.  Joseph, great grandson of Abraham, was hated as a child by his half brothers and then sold into slavery in Egypt as a youth by them.  Blended families like this are common in our world today and the resulting struggles are not easily forgotten or forgiven.  Then Joseph is misrepresented by the wife of his owner, a powerful man in Egypt, and sent to prison.  In prison his gift for interpreting dreams helps others who forget him.  Jealousy, betrayal, lies and invisibility are hard realities to deal with.

         Joseph rises to power in Egypt and then the day comes when he has to face his past.  His half brothers arrive in Egypt looking to buy food.  Joseph has gone from nomad youth to being assimilated into Egypt and in a position of power over food distribution.  Joseph recognizes the half brothers but they do not recognize him.  Genesis goes into quite a bit of detail on how Joseph works through his anger.

         First, Joseph concocts a plan to buy himself time to process the situation.  He could get even and had them thrown in jail but instead Joseph has his “discerning cup” hidden in their grain bags so that they appear like thieves.  He demands they bring the 12^th brother, Joseph’s blood brother, Benjamin, back on the next trip and holds one half brother in prison.  Not doing a knee-jerk response gives Joseph time to process this turn of events.  Getting distance can be done mentally by counting to ten and practicing controlled breathing.  I prefer driving to “my quiet spot” by the lake and having a long talk with God until I calm down and am in a better frame of mind.  Alcohol and drugs are ways to numb the mind in the face of intense emotions but they do not give space for reasoning and only numb momentarily.  Hurting myself by overeating, resolves nothing.  How do you give yourself space and time to think through a disturbing event? 

         The second thing that happens is on the second return trip, Joseph, torn by his emotions goes into his private room and weeps.  Underneath the anger and hurt is love!  I learned in a parenting class as a young mother that an angry child is covering sadness and a sad child is covering anger.  Joseph releases his anger through crying.  Joseph cried but others scream while some pound a pillow.  I prefer swimming or hitting a tennis ball against a wall as hard as I can.  Anything to release the bottled up energy and thoughts of violence that anger brews.  What is under the anger?

         Anger is a human emotion.  It energizes us in emergencies and it leads to rectification of social injustice.  Jesus got angry.  Anger stewed and horded, though, seems to ferment and expand until a small incident becomes a major offense.  Joseph had legitimate excuses to be angry.  But how to use that energy is the challenge. 

         Is there some situation confronting you today that you need to figure out how to get perspective on?  Creating mental distance to process and grieving the insult combined with prayer is always wise and a better choice than lashing out at self or the other.  Blessings as you wrestle with wrongs!

Genesis 42.  The Pharaoh of Egypt had two dreams that disturbed him and suddenly the cupbearer, the man in prison who was helped by Joseph, remembers.  Joseph interprets the dreams and shoots to #2, our modern day Minister of Agriculture.  Joseph understands Pharoah’s dreams to foretell seven years of plenty and seven years of severe famine. He establishes a plan of saving the plenty for the time of want.  The famine spreads and touches Joseph’s birth family.  It would appear that God is working behind the scenes to bring family reconciliation.

         The ten brothers come to Egypt to buy food but do not recognize Joseph.  We have an interesting cast of characters.  Father Jacob is back at home with his family but still grieves Joseph.  The brothers, seemingly prosperous herdsmen, arrive to buy food but the skeleton in their closet is about to be revealed.  Meanwhile Joseph seemingly has it all now, power, position, a wife and two sons but he misses his birth family.  Appearances can be deceiving.

Trying to keep our “mask” on when there is turmoil in our hearts is very exhausting.  Tomorrow the masks will fall and the story be put right but today we ponder our resources in the midst of the struggle of appearances.  The brothers know their “story” and their guilt and provide a support community.  Grief support groups or groups like AA or WW provide encouragement and support for people caught in addictions.  Weekly in church the pastor gives the absolution, “By the power invested in me by the church I declare unto you the entire forgiveness of all your sins.”  Confession and coming clean is good for the soul.  Psalms of lament give us words to express our anger and frustration when life seems to be going wrong.  Prayer, while maybe not talking to someone seen, gives voice to the internal struggle.  Perhaps there is something you are holding close and not wanting others to see about you but finding help to carry the load is always good.  “Bridge over troubled water,” expresses those feelings.  Blessings as you sort it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrcwRt6J32o

Genesis 39-41.  Joseph, great-grandson of Abraham, is sold into slavery by jealous half brothers and carried to Egypt where Potiphar, Pharaoh’s captain of the guard, buys him.  He prospered even though a foreigner but caught the eye of Potiphar’s wife.  When he refused to sleep with her, he was accused of molesting her and sent to prison.  Sometimes doing what is right does not mean a person will be found innocent.  In prison he accurately interprets the dreams of two prisoners.  One is hanged but the other is released and forgets Joseph.  His own dreams do not seem to be ever going to come tr

         I suspect this last year as people have lost jobs, not been able to pay rent, and had to supervise children studying at home, many have doubted that God was in control or had a good plan for their lives. Hard times test us physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.  Joseph, who had experienced all the perks of being the favorite child and the gifted child, now has to dig inside himself and decide what he is made of.  It would seem that during these trials, he remembered those stories he heard from his father and grandfather about God’s faithfulness and about principle’s of integrity.  The Bible encourages us to raise a child in the way he should go and when he is old he won’t depart from it.  When Potiphar’s wife solicits Joseph and invites him to bed, Joseph knows within himself that it is wrong.  Joseph responds to the temptation, “My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.  How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”  Joseph knows he is ultimately answering to God.  Joseph is transforming from that cocky youth into a man of integrity as the difficult times help him sort out his values and priorities.

         We see that in prison, Joseph again rises to a position of responsibility even as a criminal.  It reminds me of Invictus and the conviction that jail can rob me of freedom but it cannot rob me of my “invincible soul.”  Joseph could have whined, “Unfair.”  He could have lashed out and taken it out on a weaker prisoner.  He could have caved in to depression and committed suicide.  He could have blamed God.  But he did none of these.  He pressed on centering his life on the truth of God as he knew it and trusting that our epic hero, God, has a plan that is being worked out.

         So how do we respond when bad turns to worse?  When the chips are down, where do we turn?  I love the Lamaz advice to relax and focus your mind on a favorite memory or Bible verse as the pain of the contractions increases because the mind can only focus on one thing.  I love James 1:2-5,  

         “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face     trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith         produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you        may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  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.”

Whatever trial you are facing today, you are not alone.  God is there even when it is so dark you cannot see him!

Genesis 37 lays the seeds of family tensions that draw Joseph, son of Jacob, great grandson of Abraham, into the spotlight for the next major section of our epic story.  Jacob, the younger twin, swindled his brother Esau out of birthright and blessing from aging Isaac, and so had to flee to his uncle who out-swindled him.  I think we could make a TV series out of this family’s skeletons.  Jacob awoke after the wedding to find himself married to Leah, the older sister, and had to work for Rachel, his true love another seven years.  Infertility is a significant factor in this family line.  Rachel while most loved, does not conceive, until Jacob has already sired ten sons by Leah, her maid, and Rachel’s maid.  Finally Rachel becomes pregnant and bears Joseph.  The plot thickens as this youngster is obviously favored by the father who gives him a colored coat. “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat” is that story.  When parents play favorites, trouble brews as seen in the lives of Jacob and Esau.  Not only does his father favor Joseph but Joseph is also gifted with the ability to discern dreams and Joseph proudly flaunts dreams of superiority in front of his brothers.  His dreams foretell that he will rule over his brothers.  I suspect he was a bit arrogant in sharing that dream!  Favoritism and arrogance breed jealousy and hate. 

         This is a common family theme.  It seems there is always the sibling that is perceived as “the favorite.”  One sibling often functions as the “scapegoat.”  Often there is “the clown.”  Families can be pretty filled with undercurrents of social tension even as there are in all social groups.  We are so human.  Joseph’s brothers decide to act on this stew of hatred and grab Joseph and sell him into slavery to a caravan headed to Egypt.  Has our hero, God, been defeated by the seeds of doubt, hatred, jealousy and violence sown by our villain, Satan?  In fact, we will see this week how God, even in our darkest hours, is working with our lives to bring about the good he desires for us.  He is getting Joseph in place to build a nation.

         It is so easy in families as we struggle to keep our heads above water and as the needs of one child sometimes consume our energy, to forget to affirm the quiet child, the responsible child, the not so gifted child.  Perhaps list today the people in your life who are significant to you and next to their name list the personality trait you appreciate about them.  Giving a word of affirmation whether written or spoken or texted is always appreciated.  Praying for that quality to be developed in that person’s life is good too.  Plus we must never give up on the one who seems “lost” as God is able to work in ways we could not even imagine.  “Thank you” is such a powerful phrase!

The Bridge to Egypt

Genesis 37 lays the seeds of family tensions that draw Joseph, son of Jacob, great grandson of Abraham, into the spotlight for the next major section of our epic story.  Jacob, the younger twin, swindled his brother Esau out of birthright and blessing from aging Isaac, and so had to flee to his uncle who out-swindled him.  I think we could make a TV series out of this family’s skeletons.  Jacob awoke after the wedding to find himself married to Leah, the older sister, and had to work for Rachel, his true love another seven years.  Infertility is a significant factor in this family line.  Rachel while most loved, does not conceive, until Jacob has already sired ten sons by Leah, her maid, and Rachel’s maid.  Finally Rachel becomes pregnant and bears Joseph.  The plot thickens as this youngster is obviously favored by the father who gives him a colored coat. “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat” is that story.  When parents play favorites, trouble brews as seen in the lives of Jacob and Esau.  Not only does his father favor Joseph but Joseph is also gifted with the ability to discern dreams and Joseph proudly flaunts dreams of superiority in front of his brothers.  His dreams foretell that he will rule over his brothers.  I suspect he was a bit arrogant in sharing that dream!  Favoritism and arrogance breed jealousy and hate. 

         This is a common family theme.  It seems there is always the sibling that is perceived as “the favorite.”  One sibling often functions as the “scapegoat.”  Often there is “the clown.”  Families can be pretty filled with undercurrents of social tension even as there are in all social groups.  We are so human.  Joseph’s brothers decide to act on this stew of hatred and grab Joseph and sell him into slavery to a caravan headed to Egypt.  Has our hero, God, been defeated by the seeds of doubt, hatred, jealousy and violence sown by our villain, Satan?  In fact, we will see this week how God, even in our darkest hours, is working with our lives to bring about the good he desires for us.  He is getting Joseph in place to build a nation.

         It is so easy in families as we struggle to keep our heads above water and as the needs of one child sometimes consume our energy, to forget to affirm the quiet child, the responsible child, the not so gifted child.  Perhaps list today the people in your life who are significant to you and next to their name list the personality trait you appreciate about them.  Giving a word of affirmation whether written or spoken or texted is always appreciated.  Praying for that quality to be developed in that person’s life is good too.  Plus we must never give up on the one who seems “lost” as God is able to work in ways we could not even imagine.  “Thank you” is such a powerful phrase!

Genesis 32, 33 Jacob, Abraham’s grandson by Isaac and the twin brother of Esau fled for his life yesterday, going to his mother’s brother.  He fell in love with Rachael, the uncle’s daughter, but wakes up on the morning after the wedding to discover he has been married to her older sister Leah.  He had to work seven more years to marry Rachael!  Between Leah, Rachael and their maids, Jacob sires twelve sons but he is living away from his birth family – his mother and father and twin.  And he is living under an uncle who has made his life difficult.  Jacob, that means “grabber” as he was born holding his brother’s heel, has been out-grabbed by his uncle and he realizes it is time to return home and face his brother.

         Jacob has amassed considerable wealth in herds and concocts a plan to appease his brother as he approaches the home turf.  Scouts spy the brother coming with a large group of men.  Jacob divides his animals and wives and sends small groups of animals ahead as presents, hoping to make peace with Esau.  That night he lags behind and wrestles with an angel who dislocates his hip and changes his name to Israel, “because he has struggled with God and with humans and has overcome.”

         Esau, unbeknownst to Jacob, has also prospered through the years and greatly mellowed.  He is ready to forgive and reconcile.  He genuinely embraces Jacob and welcomes him back.  This story works as both twins are blessed with wealth and family and need not be jealous of each other any longer.  Reconciliation is not easy.

         Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  A father has two sons.  The younger one claims his inheritance early and leaves.  In a foreign country he squanders it and decides to return to the father who welcomes him with open arms.  Jacob was the younger twin.  In the parable the older brother is not as generous as Esau but is bitter that no party has been thrown for him.  The father, who represents God, reaches out to that son reminding him of his welcome and wealth in the father’s home.

         Perhaps there is someone with whom you have been at odds.  Distance and silence has only compounded the animosity.  Could this be the time to reconcile?  Forgiveness is basic.  Bitterness divides.  Looking at the blessings God has given in the “separated years” helps to start the process.  Struggling with God and with humans helps produce reconciliation.  Perhaps now is the time to take that first step.  Blessings.

Genesis 27, 28 continues with the life of Isaac, the son of Abraham, who follows in his father’s footsteps. Isaac marries Rebekah, his cousin.  They too have fertility problems but eventually twins are born, Esau and Jacob.  Isaac favors the elder twin, Esau, who is an outdoors person while Rebekah favors Jacob, a homebody.  Jacob, the younger twin, takes advantage of his brother and gets the birthright of the eldest, and with the aid of his mother deceives his aging father so that he receives the family blessing too.  Perhaps that doesn’t mean much to us today as our families are becoming so geographically disconnected but family squabbles over “the will”, who inherits what, and how it is done, often leave deep scars in families even today.  Jacob has to run to escape the wrath of Esau and goes to his mother’s brother who deceives him.  It is a bit of a steamy story as Isaac spends years working for his two wives and has 12 sons and eventually returns home to face Esau.  The twelve sons of Jacob by his two wives and two concubines become the twelve tribes of the Jews and from this very human story God builds the nation of Israel we see today

         At the birth of our daughter, we were standing in the crowd at our son’s boarding school as President Moi of Kenya walked past right near us.  He raised his ruling stick and pointed it at my brand new baby and said in front of everyone, “She too will go to this school.”  This family story always leads to a discussion among my children about who has blessed them and how.  Being blessed or affirmed is a powerful experience.  Baptisms, weddings, naming ceremonies all reinforce this.  Calling out and pointing out the good seen in another is a wonderful affirmation.  Perhaps you do not have children or yours are grown.  “Uncle Bill” at my church checked in with the teenagers regularly to hear how football games went, how they did on tests, and generally “saw” them and blessed them by projecting to them their “better self.”

         So many children come from broken homes today and the role of community to hold these children and bless them is sacred.  We all have parts of our life when we act less than honorably and to have someone who sees beyond our failures and affirms our potential is huge.  Affirming our value in the eyes of God is even hugh-er!  Jacob was not perfect but it was in those broken times that God was molding him and forming him. God eventually changed Jacob’s name to Israel.  God is working and is not done with us yet.  Perhaps you can think of five people you could reach out and affirm this week and affirm the work you see God doing in their lives.  Dropping a card in the mail or a text that says, “Hey, thanks for being you!” will make someone smile and make you smile too!

Genesis 21:1-22:19, the eighth lesson in our epic story lays the foundation for our modern day Middle East conflicts.  Abraham has a covenant with God that he will be the father of a nation that will bless all people.  His first child, though, was conceived with Sarah’s servant, Hagar, according to tribal customs.  Impatience often leads to shortcuts that have a price tag we do not expect.  The promise was to come through Sarah, and years later Sarah would conceive Isaac.  Isaac means laughter.  With the laughter of Isaac is the reality of the tensions between Sarah and Hagar.  Hagar is sent away to keep peace but surprisingly God meets Hagar, the first time he speaks to a woman, and promises that her son, Ishmael, will also be the father of a great nation, the Arabs.  Sarah’s son becomes the father of the Jewish people.  Both Arabs and Jews claim Abraham as their father!  Our epic story is still being lived out in our lifetime

         Our epic includes another story that tells how Abraham understood God to want him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  Sacrificing the first son was a common tribal custom of the day and something a god would be expected to ask.  Abraham climbed the mountain, built an altar, and tied Isaac up, but God stopped him and told him to look in the bush near by where a ram was stuck and would be the sacrifice.  Christians believe this is a clue that points to the sacrifice on Calgary, of Jesus, at that same spot centuries later.

         So what do these two unique stories say to us today?  So many times we become impatient with God’s plan and take life into our own hands.  But that does not mean God is defeated.  Despite all the detours we take, God is able to work with us and bless.  Often we think there is only one right answer to a situation we find ourselves in and we become frazzled and immobilized trying to do the right thing.  Perhaps God is giving us the freedom to choose and he can bless whichever path we choose as we seek to be faithful.

         Sometimes we do not understand the twists and turns life takes and it feels like God is asking us to sacrifice that which we love so much.  We question why a child dies, why a marriage ends in divorce, a failed business enterprise and many other heartbreaks that redirect our lives and test our hearts.  Abraham sees the ram and we are encouraged at the glimpse, the hint that Christ will die for our sins so that we have eternal life.  We see that now but at the time, I doubt Abraham understood the significance.  He trusted and obeyed and took the next step, as he understood it to be.

         We can take encouragement and hope from these stories.  We may not know the future, the outcomes of our mistakes, the outcomes of our sacrifices, but we know who holds the future, God.  As we continue this epic story, may you be encouraged that he sees you at those moments of despair and at the moments of trial and God has a plan.  Be encouraged!

Remember the song, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham.  I am one of them and so are you.  So let’s just praise the Lord.”  God promised Abraham to bless all people through him.  But time passed and Abram and Sarai had no children and Abram grew tired of waiting.  Each month, no pregnancy, until the praise and promise seemed hollow.  Genesis 15 tells of the deep discouragement of the man we call “the father of the faith.”  Even heroes in the Bible knew the depths of despair as well as the heights of communion with God!  God visited again and renewed his promise to Abram. “Look up in the sky and count the stars.”  Some people count sheep when they can’t sleep but Abram was told to count the stars.  That is the magnitude of God’s blessing.

         Despair is when I turn my eyes onto myself, my limited abilities and failings.  It focuses on what I don’t have.  Faith is turning our eyes to the stars, to the heavens, to God and focuses on the God who created the stars and keeps them in orbit and who exists beyond our ability to see or imagine.

         “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”  Jesus had not been born and that part of our epic story is yet to be revealed.  But Abram trusted God and believed that God is able to do far more than he could even think. 

         I loved the original Star Trek where each week we went “where no man has ever gone.”  We were encouraged to think of worlds that had yet to be discovered.  Faith is like that.  We take our eyes off ourselves and focus on the heavens and on God’s ability and trustworthiness to carry us to places people have yet to discover.

         So where is the growing edge for you today, the area where you have waited so long for God to do a miracle? Perhaps you know the agony of prayer for a wayward child.  Perhaps it is the desired promotion or partner.  Perhaps it is a dream for health.  Abram trusted God when all seemed lost.  He did not know how God would fulfill his promise but he believed.  Faith is not believing you will receive but believing in the God who is able.  We do not know how God will fulfill the desires of our heart but we know he can and he sees and cares.  Patience and waiting is hard.  “Look at the sky and count the stars.”

Our “epic story” seems to be struggling. Our hero, God, has created beings that just seem to keep getting themselves into trouble. Our villain, Satan, has created a communication problem between humans and God: sin. Flood and languages have been imposed to slow the downward spiral. Humans do not seem to be able to help themselves. At this point God does the unexpected. He reaches into his creation and develops relationship with a man who married his half sister: Abram and Sarai. Not a very likely couple. God is wanting to bless the people he created and he is willing to strategize. He has a plan. This is an epic story about us.

Why? John 3:16 tells us that God so loved… God loved his creatures. How many parents look at their child born with Down’s syndrome and choose to love that child that is differently enabled. I remember the nurse looking at my baby and saying, “Well, that one will never be beautiful.” But that baby was mine and I loved him. “Mona Lisa” smiles is about an art teacher at Wellesley College, who shows a painting of a cow to her class and asks if they think it was good art. The debate starts among the girls and then she reveals it is a painting she did at age 6 for her mother and her mother, of course, loved it. God so loved the world.

Why Abram, though, who became Abraham and Sarai who became Sarah? Perhaps taking someone who seems so unlikely presents an epic challenge for an epic hero, kind of like Hildago racing his mustang across the Arab desert. We love these stories of people overcoming despite themselves to reach a goal that is bigger than themselves. God chooses Abram, Genesis 12: 2,3.

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;

I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse,

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

This is called the Abrahamic covenant. God, our hero has set his will and his heart. He has a plan for Abram and for you.

         Abram is not perfect. After talking with the God of the universe, he gets scared by famine and takes his people to Egypt and asks Sarai to say she is his sister. He is called “the father of the faith” and even he had his moments. There is hope for us.

         God initiates. God loves. God has a plan to bless you and me. How do we think about that blessing? Are we looking for finances? Fame? Adventure? I suspect many of those things come and go with time. Relationship and love are important. Abram was willing to be in relationship with God, to listen and to obey. May you be growing in your relationship with God as we work through this epic story.

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Dorothy in Wizard of Oz broke into the song, “Somewhere over the rainbow” and Judy Garland, the actress, continued singing that song for the next 30 years, her signature song.  Dorothy who lived in the dry plains of Kansas knew the beauty of color from the rainbow and knew happiness must be over there.  Our fourth lesson is Genesis 8:1-9:17 and is known as the Noahic covenant.  God puts a rainbow in the sky to tell us of his love that goes with us through our trials and is unending.

         Noah exits the ark with family and animals to a new world.  His first act is to build an altar for worship and offers a sacrifice.  God who has not forgotten his creation sees and vows, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.  And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.”  He places a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of his vow.  It is noteworthy that it is one-sided and nothing is asked of humanity. 

         When we go through rough, trying times, how do we respond?  It must have been wonderful for Noah and family to get out of the confinement, the work, and the stench of the ark.  Questions must have filled his heart.  Amazingly his first response is worship for deliverance.  I wonder how many people received their stimulus checks and immediately put some aside for God, or did they run to store or pay bills?  Attitudes of gratitude so often do not always jump to our minds first.  Noah combines his gratitude with sacrifice, sharing that which God did not demand here at the beginning of our epic story.  We shall see this theme of combining sacrifice with forgiveness from sin and with gratitude.          So when we see the rainbow in the sky with all its colors we can think of the sunny times after the clouds and of God’s promise to not destroy the earth.  Let us take each color of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet – and name one item we can be thankful for.  Perhaps red is for strawberries!  But also remember how the rainbow promises an eternity that will look so colorful compared to the dry lands of now.  He said it and he will do it!  This epic will unfold to explain how.  Hallelujah!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU