Sacred Mundane: The Blog

Have you ever read through Exodus 1, and the story of the Hebrew Midwives, and wondered, “How could God condone lying?”  Then, of course we get to Rahab in Joshua 2 and the question rises again.  So is lying wrong or not? Here’s a good article by John Piper on this topic.

The bottom line?  99.99999% of the time, telling the truth is always the right thing to do, but as Piper says, “I conclude from these two stories that it is possible to be a person who fears the Lord (like the Hebrew midwives) and who acts in faith (like Rahab) and yet feels constrained in extreme situations to oppose evil by lying.” This is not situational ethics but rather an individual who loves and fears God opposing evil at all cost.

And no, wanting to conceal from your husband how much you spent on that new coat is not an extreme situation. Tell the truth. 🙂

Genesis 50 reminded me of this post from last year:

What’s challenged me is realizing what a fragile thing my happiness can be.  A tiny shift of circumstances can seem to crumble what I thought was a sure foundation of joy, hope, faith.  Or, put another way, a tiny nudge of another person can send me tumbling off my tight-rope of happiness, when I had thought I was firmly planted on the ground of inner peace.  My grandfather, Howard Zoet, was a prize-fighting boxer and a poet. He was also an amazing man of God, the kindest man I’d ever known (until I met Jeff, who truly is the kindest man I’ve ever met), and a lover of words. He is the one who gave me my passion for writing.  In fact, it was at my grandma’s funeral, at the age of 11, standing before the kind eyes of my grandpa, that I read my first poem out loud–a tribute to her life.  I did it for him. Now, right above my kitchen sink I still have a photo of him, holding me as an infant–asleep in his arms.  He died when I was 13.

But when I was just a toddler, he published a book of poetry. In the back he included a section where he wrote a silly little poem for each of his grandchildren–just five of us.  I was the youngest, and the only girl.  And the part I’ll always remember, from A Poem for Karina, is this stanza:

Kari, you are kind of funny. When you’re good, you’re oh so sunny!

But when you decide to cry, things sure change–oh me oh my!

Yes, I was 2 at the time, but I think if my grandpa were here today to write my poem almost 28 years later, it may read exactly the same way.  I still am amazed at how I can swing from high to low.  Why? We all know the answer–not keeping our eyes on Jesus, being too concerned with self, etc. But I love this example in Genesis, that I just read again the other day.  Joseph’s brothers, who had long ago acted our of jealousy and sold him into slavery, now had experienced the grace and deliverance of living in the land of Goshen, in Egypt, and receiving provision during the famine. They’d experience miraculous grace, forgiveness, provision. But as soon as their father, Israel, died, they panicked.  Chapter 50 tells us they feared Joseph would pay them back for all their evil, so they sent a message to him (too scared to go in person!), begging him to be kind to them, then they went in person and fell down before him, offering themselves as his servants, if Joseph would just promise to be kind to them.

And what I love is Joseph’s response, which is a comfort and a rebuke all at once:

“Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?” (50:19)

The comfort is, don’t worry–I’m not going to harm you. But the rebuke is–why have you put me in the place of God? Why have you set your hope on my mercy, rather than God’s? Why have you made me big and God small?  Or, perhaps applicable to us today, Why have you set your happiness on my approval, my provision, my decisions.

Their fear, anxiety, and turmoil was all simply because they had forgotten the place of God. They’d put Joseph there instead, and there’s only room for One. And amazingly, Joseph himself is the one to remind them that he belongs in no such place. No one is in the place of God–no boss, no spouse, no friend, no family member, and no circumstance.  What they had meant for evil, God meant for good.  Nothing can thwart the will of our God.

Of course as long as we live we’ll have those ups and downs, but my hope and prayer is to at least be a little more stable than I was when my grandfather penned those telling words.  I believe Joseph reveals the key to it all.  Who or what is in the place of my God?  There’s only room for One.

You know what makes me more excited than ever to study and prepare and teach God’s Word?  It isn’t my own teaching experiences. It’s sitting under the teaching of others. When I sit and receive the fruit of another’s toil and labor (because preparing to teach is toil and labor!), I get more stoked than ever to study, prepare and teach with (hopefully) excellence. I get overwhelmed with thankfulness when I have the honor of sitting under the God-centered teaching of others.

And I had the honor of doing just that this weekend. And as I was sitting in church last night, it just struck me: We need to write our pastors more thank you notes.  Yes, we need to pray for them often. But we also just need to get out our pens and say a few simple words: Thank you.  Or, just shoot off an email, but whatever you do, don’t bog them down with a million words or yet another suggestion or idea, but just say thank you. Those words go so far; let’s say them.

Right now.

Grab a pen. Or click “compose message.”  Write a message. Think of what you are thankful for. Write it.  Say it.  Pray they would be blessed today.  And tell them you appreciate them.

Go.

Joseph as a pretty remarkable guy–on that we can all agree.  Though his first appearance in scripture reveals him as a blabbermouth wearing a colorful coat, he ends up being one the heroes of history and one of the most Christlike characters in the whole Old Testament. His life gives us a brief but telling glimpse at what ministry means and the training that God uses to prepare us for His work.

Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37 was essentially God revealing, in advance, that his brothers would eventually be submitting to the leadership of their brother.  Of course it was foolish of Joseph to tell them this. This is akin to you approaching one of your co-workers tomorrow and telling them that you had had a dream that you would soon be their boss.  Not a good strategy. But Joseph does and soon learns the hard way the value of keeping things to oneself. He’s sold as a slave and winds up in Potipher’s house in Egypt.

So Joseph is destined to be a leader. His training? Check it out:

• Betrayal (Gen 37): Joseph first learns a little bit about human nature, the hard way. He learns about jealousy and hatred (which we saw last week), and about the harsh reality that it takes very little for people to turn on you.  You can go from hero to hated in an alarmingly short amount of time.
• Slavery (Gen 37): Instead of killing Joseph, his brothers just sell him to a band of Midianites as a slave, who then sold him in Egypt to Potipher, an officer of Pharoah.  In a matter of moments he went from seeing himself as the up and coming ruler of all to the low and forsaken slave of all.
• Temptation (Gen 39): Since Joseph was handsome (v.6), his master’s wife went after him and sought to seduce him, even going so far as to tempt him daily, “Lie with me,” not just once but day after day.  I can only imagine that the wife of Potipher (who could have any woman he wanted) was probably a hotty. And Joseph was young and single and the temptation was right in front of him, literally beckoning him, every single day. And yet He resisted. How? Because he rightly knew the nature of sin, that it is against God that we sin (v.9).
• Wrongfully Accused (Gen 39): What reward does Joseph get for his firm resolve and upstanding morals?  Potipher’s wife lies about him, and he is thrown in prison.  *It’s worth noting that at about this place along the journey is when I would throw in the towel.  It would seem that no matter what he does it never works out. What good is it to be faithful to God? Yes, Joseph doesn’t. Because true leaders don’t.
• Forgotten (Gen 40): By God’s power, Joseph is able to interpret the cupbearer’s and cheif baker’s dreams while they were in prison. Though the chief cupbearer promised to remember Joseph when he was released from prison.  Yet, verse 23 tells us, “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”  After all the excitement, all the hope, all the anticipation of freedom, after all that is built up in Joseph’s mind–he is once again forgotten. For two more years nothing happens.  It would seem that hope is lost.

And after all this time, probably some 13 years or so, Joseph is finally elevated to leadership, after successfully interpreting Pharoah’s disturbing dreams (Gen 41).  He then is able to prepare the land for famine, receive his brothers, and through this miraculous turn of events, save the entire nation of Israel through his leadership. It is a remarkable story of suffering, God’s providence, and the tenacity and perseverance of the man Joseph. Of course Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers is another post altogether.  What always amazes me is that way that God prepares Joseph for his enormous call into leadership–through betrayal, betrayal, temptation, wrongful accusation, and the pain of being forgotten.  He prepared him through broken dreams, deferred hope, incredible disappointment.  But the man that came through the 13 years of trial became a man who had the integrity and wisdom to preserve an entire nation–God’s nation.  Our Savior was born of this nation. How thankful are we that Joseph endured his special 13-year training?

Joseph was aware of this. After all this had happened, he clearly recognized God’s hand in it all.  In 45:5 he says, “God sent me before you to preserve life…So it was not you who sent me here but God.”  Wow.  No blame. No anger. No resentment. The calm and confident knowledge that nothing befalls us but that has been sovereignly allowed by our loving God.  The knowledge that, as a leader, he was sent ahead to make the way for his family.  Going before is rarely easy, but what glorious results for those who do it well.

Psalm 105 gives a great commentary on this story.  Speaking of Joseph it says,

“[God] send a man ahead of them, Joseph who was sold as a slave.  His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; until what He said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.”  (17-19)

Until God’s prophetic word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.  Jeff and I discovered this verse about seven years ago and have held it dear ever since. If God speaks something to us that we know is from Him, it tests us until it comes to pass. We are tested in our faith–will we believe what God says?

And for all of us, who know that God has called us to something, some task or dream or place of leadership (we all are called to something!), are we prepared for the “training” that God may have for us?  Though I loved going through seminary, it is not sitting in a classroom the prepares one for ministry–it is the opportunity to trust God in the hard times, the betrayal, the times spent in a “prison” of waiting, the feeling forgotten.

What are you going through right now?  How might God be using it as training for the future good works He has prepared in advance for you to do? How might you be “going ahead” of others in order to prepare the way for them? How can you be faithful, today, to God’s word, no matter how hard it is to see? I pray we are encouraged and challenged by the life of Joseph, to bear our training well.