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Week 3: June 12
Suffering for Doing the Right Thing (Joseph) by Jan Groff
If you'd prefer a print version of this week's content, you can download the PDF here.
Click on each link below to view the first 2 days for this week:
DAY 3
We love a good Top Ten list, don’t we? There are many things we can learn from the life of Joseph. In fact, volumes have been written about him. Since we are only studying Joseph’s life for a week, let’s look at what are perhaps the top ten things we can learn from the Biblical account of Joseph.
Reading:
Read Genesis chapters 42-45
Question for Reflection:
Are there any temptations in your life that are tripping you up and keeping you from serving God? Make a plan for how you will flee from those temptations – involve trusted others if necessary.
DAY 4
Yesterday we looked at a Top Ten list of lessons we can learn from the Biblical account of Joseph’s life. As you reviewed that list, there were likely items on that list that stood out to you and perhaps felt applicable to your life. Be encouraged to sit with and spend time mulling over those items that were most meaningful to you.
To apply the lessons from Joseph’s life to ours, I think two things rise to the surface as most important to remember:
1. God is ALWAYS with us
As we go through our lives, when things are easy, we don’t have much trouble remembering that God is with us. But the harder things get for us, the more difficult it can be to remember that God is still with us in the dark, scary moments – as he was with Joseph. We need not FEEL God’s presence to KNOW that he is beside us. He promised us, in both Joshua 1:5 and Hebrews 13:5, that he will never leave us, nor forsake us.
2. Difficulties are not the end of the story
So many of us, when we are faced with something hard or frightening or sad, act as if the situation is the period on the end of the sentence at the end of the chapter at the end of the book. But God doesn’t see difficult circumstances that way. God sees those difficult situations as semicolons.
A period is a mark of finality, the end. A semicolon indicates there is more to the story. What comes before the semicolon is related to what comes after, but it is not the final word. The circumstances before the semicolon refine us for something better on the other side of the semicolon.
We can see God using this punctuation mark – the semicolon - in the life of Joseph. In the hard and the frightening, God used what came before the semicolon to refine Joseph, giving Joseph the strength and courage to continue to do his best and ultimately succeed.
This does not mean that happy times will always follow hard times. Life doesn’t balance out perfectly like that. But be encouraged that regardless of what happens before the semicolon, there is hope on the other side.
Reading:
Read Genesis chapters 46-48
Question for Reflection:
When God allows me to be tested, what do people hear from me – grumbling and complaining OR praise for God’s goodness, faithfulness, and grace?
Day 5
Set aside 30 minutes or more that is just for you and God. Go to a quiet place, listen to the following songs, and then take some time to write out a prayer – your heart cry – to God.
Eye of the Storm by Ryan Stevenson
Counting Every Blessing by Rend Collective
Reading:
Read Genesis chapters 49-50
Question for Reflection:
Instead of being tempted by vengeance or mired in scorekeeping, how can I be the person in my family (family of origin, church family, or family of man) that leads the way in the area of forgiveness?