BBD 07.20.04 When Blessings Don't Act Like Blessings
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
like to encourage you to visit this great site at http://www.crossmap.com. Crossmap
has recently added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit
Crossmap’s sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at
http://www.christianpost.com.
The Burning Bush Devotional
(Over 13,000 subscribers in 75 countries)
07.20.04
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).”
Copyright © 2004. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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