8/29/2022 • Desk of Dennis Piller
How Could This Happen to Me?
We have some new Courageous Men who are joining our morning devotionals.
Pray for them as they step into their new commitments to be part of this Men’s Group.
Joseph said to them, “but as for you; you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Genesis 50:1
John Bevere writes that most people that are offended fit into two major categories. 1. Those who have been genuinely mistreated.
2. those who think they have been mistreated but actually were not.
Question: if you were genuinely mistreated, do you have the right to be offended?
Let’s look at Joseph in Genesis 37–48 You know the story. He was Jacob‘s 11th son and was despised by his older brothers because his father favored him and set him apart with a coat of many colors.
Without too much detail, he had two dreams that basically said that his family would end up bowing down to him and they hated him even more. So they threw him into a pit. Joseph had offended them so they betrayed him, and took away his inheritance and his family.
Keep in mind these are brothers who did this.
Joseph’s brothers kept him from ever receiving his father’s name and inheritance. They blotted his name out, completely stripping him of his identity. All that was familiar to Joseph was gone. He was sold into slavery and remained a slave until he died.
It would’ve been easier if Joseph had never known what it was to be wealthy and entitled. His brothers were both evil and cruel. We all love the story of Joseph’s inspiring story and incredible ending.
But that is not how Joseph experienced it.
These offenders went on with their life.
Joseph had no hope of a father’s rescue.
Foreign prisons were nothing like America. No sunlight, no workout areas, just a sunken room or pit void of light and warmth. Prisoners were put there to rot as they survived on the bread and water of affliction. One Kings 22:27 they were given just enough food to survive so they could suffer.
They were left there to die. How offended was he?
But he held to the integrity of his faith. He gained favor and was promoted to Potifers house serving others with kindness and honor. His wife tried to seduce him but he remained faithful to God, but she screamed rape and he was back in prison. A prisoner, accused of rape had little or no hope. Things could not have gotten worse. Might you read his thoughts sitting in a damp dark dungeon?
“I served my master with honesty and with integrity for over 10 years. I’m more faithful than his wife. I stayed loyal to God and my master, daily fighting sexual immorality. What is my reward? A dungeon!”
Why hasn’t my God intervened?
I have no doubt that he wrestled with similar thoughts. He had very limited freedom in his life, but he still had the right to choose his response to all that has happened to him. Would he…did he, become offended and bitter towards his brothers and eventually God? Would he give up all hope of the promises and the dreams God had given him? Would you have?
Is God in control?
I imagine it never crossed Joseph’s mind until it was all over that this was God’s process to prepare him to rule.
Joseph was learning obedience through what he suffered. His brothers were skillfully wielded instruments in the hand of God. Joseph originally spoke of his dreams to elevate himself. He had not learned yet that authority is given to serve, not to set one apart.
How often is it for all of us that in these training periods of our lives we focus on the impossibility of our circumstances instead of the greatness of God? We forget… “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”. Romans 8:28. As a result, we are discouraged and need to blame someone, so we look for the one we think is responsible for our despair. When we faced the fact that God could’ve prevented our whole mess and didn’t – We often blame him.
How often do we blame other people? A spouse or if it weren’t for my parents I would’ve had a normal life. They are to blame for where I am today. How come others have normal parents and I don’t? If it weren’t for my former spouse and kids I wouldn’t have all this financial trouble. The list is endless.
Absolutely no man, woman, trial, or devil can ever get you out of the will of God! No one but God holds your destiny. Joseph’s brothers tried hard to destroy the vision God gave him. They thought they had ended it for Joseph and killed God’s dreams. Genesis 37:20 This wasn’t an accident. It was deliberate. They wanted no chance that he would ever succeed.
Can you envision God talking to his Son and the Holy Spirit saying what are we going to do now? Look at what the brothers have done. They have ruined our plans for Joseph. Do we have an alternative plan?
I think many Christians respond to crisis situations as if that actually happens in heaven. Oops, the man that I wanted Jane to marry got married to her best friend who gossiped about her and turned his heart away. We’re gonna have to find her another guy now.
Let me say clearly that if Joseph had actually had that attitude, God would’ve left him in that dungeon to rot. I am convinced in my life that God continued to allow me to make the same mistakes over and over again until I learned what he had been trying to teach me. Not my Way but his Ways.
Joseph stayed free from the spirit of offense and the plan of God was established in his life and in the lives of his family because he trusted God beyond his circumstances. God always has a plan for you, no person can change that. Don’t give in to the Spirit of Offense. Give it to God!
There’s Nothing That Our God Can’t Do – Passion Lyric Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI8ji2EjGE4
Excerpts are taken from John Bever’s book The Bait of Satan
