“And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.” Genesis 45.7
Do you ever think of your life in acts, like in a play? The sections of your life as you look back, and even forward?
In our study of the life of Joseph – God Meant It for Good – with week 7 of 11, we’ve come to the end of a section of Joseph’s life story. There will now be a shift from focus on how God orchestrated the family history for Joseph, his father, and his 11 brothers – the family of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham.
As the stage curtain has come down, I wouldn’t mind if the story concluded here. I like happy endings. The family is reunited. They have relocated to a new region that seems like the Lord had set it aside just for them. The family will thrive even as the famine continues for at least five more years. Even grow to be “a great nation” over time. Happy ending! Happy ending?
Is it an ending? No. The stage is set for the next act … the focus shifts from the family of one man to the family-become-a-nation. Set apart by God. Dwelling where God had moved them. A remnant.
Yet no longer dwelling in the land God had promised to their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Living in the not-yet.
That is each of us. Whatever is your current stage of life, if you have put your trust and submission in Jesus’ sacrifice for your eternal life, this is the not-yet. Hopeful, joyful, trustingly living like a rescued and adopted member of God’s family. Every day as the stage curtain rises is your next opportunity, my next opportunity, to live wisely, graciously, securely because of what we already know. God means your life circumstances, the hard things and the sweet things, for your good and His glory. That hope is the day-shaper. Certain and secure. The prompting to share your certainty with someone else.
In the end, it really wasn’t about Joseph or his father. The story of God’s remnant continues. Your story. God’s story.
But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. Ezra 9.8
In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. Isaiah 10.20
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. Jeremiah 23.3
Trusting with you, for you, because of God’s faithful love, Colleen