Well, we’ve all survived the holidays! As much as I adore Christmas and the entire holiday season, there’s something refreshing about coming to the end of it, with all the decorations carefully wrapped up and placed safely back in their tubs until next season. Even though it’s still winter, there’s a feeling of getting a fresh start on things that can be energizing. It’s different from spring. Spring is when I plant and replant and dig in my garden, so there’s always a lot of physical work for me. This period between saying goodbye to Christmas and hello to Spring is always the time I get very introspective.
I find myself looking back on the past year as I think about the new one just starting; what are some things that went really well, that I would love to see continue? What are some things that maybe didn’t go as planned? Did I have a couple of true “crash and burn” moments that I want to do everything in my power to not live through again?
If you’ve been reading my stories for a while, you know that I start every January re-reading through the Bible. My favorite plan is the chronological Bible in a Year. What that means is I tend to start the year out with the same stories from the Old Testament. Something I absolutely love is that even though I’ve read these stories over and over, God always, and I mean ALWAYS, gives me some new nugget to learn. It’s awesome!
Right now, I’m reading through the story of Joseph. I’ve always loved the lesson of God taking something awful and turning it into something wonderful that He uses to further His plan for humanity. As I dug a little deeper into Joseph and his character I found a new lesson!
Joseph was the second youngest of 12 brothers. These 12 brothers would ultimately become the nation of Israel. Joseph was his father’s favorite, a fact both he and all his brothers were very well aware of. To say that Joseph was hated by his older brothers is putting it mildly. How would it feel to have 10 siblings hate you so much that they preferred you dead rather than alive? I can’t stand it when I feel like a random person hates me; I can’t imagine having my own flesh and blood feel that way.
Because of their hatred and jealousy, Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him. But then they decided that it would be a better idea to just sell him to traveling slave traders; it was easier on their conscience to think that he would be killed by these foreigners rather than by his own brothers.
There was a chain of events after he was sold, that Joseph lived through. These events and his responses to them show his true character. I think watching his brothers’ faces as he was hauled off to Egypt made him realize that he had been a real pain in the neck to his family. He probably did a little soul searching as he was taken against his will to a completely different world. By the time they reached Egypt and he was sold at the slave auction, it’s possible that Joseph may have been a more humble young man.
Don’t get me wrong; Joseph still had an air about him and a relationship with the God of his father that gave him an edge when compared to the other slaves. I believe that’s why he ended up in Potiphar’s household. Potiphar was the captain of the guard and pretty well off. Joseph was young, handsome and smart; all the traits we still find desirable today.
When I read about all the things that happened to him, I try to imagine how I would have responded had I been in the same situations. As I sit here in my comfy office, typing away on my computer I know exactly how I would have responded; the same way I tend to respond when bad things happen to me now… I ask “Why? Why did this happen to me? What did I do wrong to get here?”
When things have gone wrong or at least I’ve end up in a different situation then I wanted to be in, that’s exactly the question that goes through my mind. But the lesson I’m learning from Joseph’s story is this:
What if I’m asking the wrong question?
If I really believe that God is in control of my life, then I believe He knows what He’s doing. God doesn’t make mistakes. When I ask the question “why” I’m forcing myself to go over the event again and again in my mind. It’s easy to dwell on finding the answer to “why” and it usually leads me down a negative path. In my human mind, the only answer to “why” is I did something wrong, or someone else did something wrong. When you focus on the wrong and try to figure out which of the many wrongs you’ve come across in your life is to blame for this particular situation, you can get so buried that you never lift your head up to see that something good may have come out of it after all.
According to the model of Joseph, the question shouldn’t be “why”, the question should be:
“What shall I do now?” “How can I move from this place to the next?” “What can I do to keep moving?” “What’s next?”
When we’ve asked God to take control of our life, we have given Him the power to use everything in the arsenal of tools He created within each of us to accomplish His will.
- God gave us a creative mind to think and reason.
- He gave us personal integrity – the knowledge of right and wrong.
- With His Holy Spirit living in us, we have a spiritual sensitivity to those around us.
Instead of focusing on the question of why this is happening to me, I need to remember that God has a plan that is way bigger than mine. God may need me to slip and fall a couple of times because it gives me empathy towards someone else struggling with something. Or maybe God needs me to slow down and get off the path I’m so convinced I should be on because He has a much better path He wants me to take.
Joseph’s response to the bad things that happened to him was to keep getting up every day and look around for the next opportunity God may have for him. He didn’t wallow in self pity or throw blame around. He just got up everyday and asked God,
“What’s next?”
Heading into another year, I want more moments where I get to ask God, “What’s next?”
