BBD 02.09.22 When Blessings Don't Act Like Blessings (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Classic from 2004
The Burning Bush Devotional
09 December 2022
When Blessings Don’t Act Like Blessings
Now
Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even
more. So he said to them, "Please hear this dream which I
have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then
behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood
all around and bowed down to my sheaf." And his brothers said to him,
"Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over
us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he
dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look,
I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven
stars bowed down to me." So he told it to his father and his brothers; and
his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have
dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to
the earth before you?" - Genesis 37:5-10.
While
walking to my car this morning in a store’s parking lot God reminded me of an
important truth. In the parking lot I observed a mother with three
children trying to calm down a six- or seven-year-old girl who wasn’t getting
her way. The girl was crying and screaming at the top of her voice. Later my
wife shared she had viewed a young mother with several children that were out
of control. The mother would tell the children to stay still in one spot and it
was as if they had not heard anything at all. Even though the mother said it
several times the children were still running wild! Sometimes blessings don’t
act like blessings.
Without
any doubt, Joseph was a tremendous blessing, which came straight from the hand
of God. However, Joseph appeared to be a spoiled young man with delusions of
grandeur. His father was shocked, and his brothers were angered by this dream
that Joseph supposedly had. What hope could there be for a child like this? How
could such a child be a blessing? Israel did have a small glimmer of the truth
as the Bible records, “And his
brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind (Genesis 37:11).”
Joseph
was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Potiphar’s house in
Egypt. In Joseph’s life, we also see some blessings that did not appear to be
blessings: How could being thrown into a pit be a blessing? How could being
sold into slavery be a blessing? How could being falsely accused of rape be a
blessing? How could being imprisoned unjustly be a blessing? How could
correctly predicting the death of a man be a blessing?
At the
very end of the Book of Genesis, we see why these things, which do not appear to be blessings, were
indeed wonderful blessings from God. Joseph in Genesis 50:20 says to his brothers who fear him after
the death of their father, “But as for you,
you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it
about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”
Even
disobedient, prideful, spoiled children are blessings from God. Of course, we
are responsible before God to properly discipline them and train them in the
admonition of the Lord. Through seeking the Lord’s strength and wisdom for the
proper discipline and training of our children we will find that, God is also
training and blessing us (Ephesians 6:4;
7-8).
Even
some of the most terrible things that can happen to a person in life may
actually be blessings as the life of Joseph gives testimony. The next time some
bad thing happens to you, don’t be so quick to assume that it is a bad thing.
It could actually be a tremendous blessing from God because, “…we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to
those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).”
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Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
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