Our Example

Genesis 4151-52  Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, ‘It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.’ (52) The second son he named Ephraim and said, ’It  is because God has made me fruitful in the land of suffering.’

Today when we name a child it is generally because it is something we like.  We look through the baby books and come up with a name that we can all agree on.  Sometimes it is between the husband and wife who keep it a secret until the birth of the child and sometimes we get everyone’s opinion and then make our decision.  Generally we don’t necessarily want their opinion because we choose what we like anyway.  At any rate, it isn’t an easy task.  Do you know what your name means?  Chances are your parents don’t even know or they have forgotten   I was surprised to find out my name meant blind and was even more surprised that my name is in the Bible but it was a boys name’  It is found in Genesis 38:5  and is spelled Shelah, he was a nephew of Joseph’s.

As you have read, Joseph’s sons were no exception.  In Genesis it appears  that names were chosen carefully beginning with Adam naming all the animals and his helpmate.  Joseph also chose his sons name carefully and made a statement through them.  You may have wondered why I chose these verses today,  it wasn’t necessarily because I wanted to talk about names but because it gives us a hint of the struggles that Joseph went through.

In one of my other blogs I mentioned that we don’t hear Joseph complaining to God about his situation and sometimes we can get the impression that because of his contentment he did not have any struggles.  These verses indicate to us that he did hurt but even more importantly it shows us where he got his strength from.  It did not come just having a good attitude but from depending on God.

When I was teaching at the Charter School, I taught a class , “Seven Habits”  we went through a book entitled, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Sean Covey.  It was an excellent book that really taught students how to have the right attitude in life.  It had many Christian principles throughout the book that as a Christian I knew were right.  The third habit mentioned, “Put first things first” is a perfect illustration of what Joseph did.  He put God first.  The  habit in the book was talking about putting the big task first and the little ones would fit around it but if we put God first in our lives as Joseph did, we can truly say that God helped us through those difficult times.  We find out that God is the only big thing that matters, everything else is like sand.  How often do we try to put the sand in first and then fit God in wherever we can only to find out that there is no more room?

Struggles seem to cause us to call on God more, maybe we try to fit Him in or we just take the time to tell Him how it is..  Why do you think that it is?  My own personal opinion is that it is because we have someone to blame other than ourselves.  But, when times are good, we like to  have the praise all to ourselves.  We do need to call on God during those struggles but what we need to recognize is, we need to call on Him during the good times as well.  We need to recognize that He is with us in both times and we need to continually recognize the work of His mighty hands at all times.  Joseph did this and we can see it throughout scripture.  He spoke it and he lived it out.  What about you?  Today, if you find yourself struggling and calling on God, remember to thank Him for the times that you are struggling with and recognize that you know He is there and that He will carry you through.  Ask Him to help you to forget as He helped Joseph forget and ask him to make you fruitful in your times of struggles as he also did for Joseph.  Life is not easy, we have hard times and we have good times and we generally find ourselves not having enough time but God is there through all of it.  Thank Him today for being there.

When we talk about attitude, we have a perfect example of that in Jesus Christ, Philippians 2: 5 -11 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (8) And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!  (9) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Joseph has been compared as an example of Christ but there is one thing that is very different.  Joseph was a human through and through and did not have a choice in his captivity.  But Christ took on the nature of man, He had a choice and He chose to come and serve us.  Why is it that we find it so hard to serve Him?

If you have confessed Jesus as Lord, is your attitude a reflection of His?  If you have never confessed Jesus as Lord, what are you waiting for?  The word tells us that everyone will bow down to him, where do you want to be when you do that?  Do you want to be eternally in his presence or eternally separated from Him?  If you need to know Him, I urge you to seek out someone who can guide you through that process , a friend that know the Lord, or a local church that professes Jesus Christ, or put a comment in this blog and I will walk you through it.  There is nothing more fulfilling in life than to know Christ and to be able to lead others to His feet!

 Listen to this song, it that speaks of God being there for us during those times or struggles, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSVqHcdhXQ

May God bless you all as you seek Him and find Him when you seek Him with all your heart!

Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila

Attitude - Blessing or Curse?

In my last blog we looked at how Joseph responded to his temptation by saying no.  You would think that he would be blessed because his response wouldn’t you?  You would think that Potiphar’s wife would be impressed that he gave her an excellent reason as to why he could not sleep with her and that she would leave him alone but that is not how temptation works.


I remember a joke that an evangelist told one time when I was a child that gives a perfect example of how temptation works.  He said that his wife came home with a new dress.  She explained that she had tried it on and really liked it and was tempted to buy it.  He then asked her why she didn’t tell satan to get behind her and she said,  “I did, and he it told me, ‘It looks good from this back here too,’ so I bought it.”  Now that is temptation and  yielding to temptation.  I am sure we have all been there sometime in our lives.  It was no different for Joseph.


If you read Genesis 39:11-20 we read how Potiphar’s wife did not stop with Joseph telling her no.  One day he came into the house and grabbed his cloak and enticed him to sleep with her.  He did not reason with her this time but simply ran out of the house leaving his cloak behind.  She was so disgusted with the response that she accused him of trying to “make sport of her”.  She told Potiphar a lie when he arrived home and he was so angry that he had Joseph thrown in the king’s prison.


So many times we think that if we do everything right that God will bless us and then when it doesn’t appear that He is blessing us we begin to question Him and doubt that He ever will.  We doubt that our dreams were really from God and we find ourselves questioning our own actions.  This is how I would have felt if I would have been in Joseph’s shoes.  He had done everything right but he was falsely accused of doing what was wrong which would make anyone upset.  I would have pouted for days.  Joseph though was not like me and his reward can be found in Genesis 39:20b-21, “But while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”  Even in prison Joseph honored God.  It goes on to say in verses 22-23, “So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.  The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”


Often I get so focused on the problem that I don’t allow God to work through me.  I dwell too much on the place that I am rather than the place that I am going.  Do you ever do that?  Do you ever feel that God has forgotten you?  Well, He hasn’t, in fact sometime I believe it is more that we have forgotten God or at least we have doubted Him.  Although He could do great things through us we choose to mope because we didn’t get our way and as a result, we miss a blessing.


I remember as a child being upset one day when we were on vacation.  I had been laughed at twice that day and I didn’t take it well.  In fact, I pouted the rest of the day.  I remember my dad telling me that I better straighten up or he would give me something to pout about.  I thought I had a good enough reason to pout be he didn’t think so.  I had to pretend to be in better sprits but I really wasn’t and my entire day was ruined.  I still remember that experience and look back on it in regret.  I even remember where we were, Salem, Massachusetts and the House of Seven Gables.  I could have laughed with those that laughed at me rather than being embarrassed about it.  It was my attitude that ruined the day and caused me to remember the horrible vacation day.  How many times do I do this against my heavenly  Father?  I pout, grumble, and/or complain rather than enjoying the blessings around me.  What about you?  Are you enjoying the blessing or are you pouting?


Joseph enjoyed blessings in his less than desirable situations because of His attitude..  He knew that God was in control and that His plan would someday be fulfilled.  Today as you go about your day, I hope you will look at your situation as the perfect plan that God has for you.  It goes back to trusting Him in ALL situations and knowing that He is in control.  As you seek Him and find Him may you have peace, contentment, and much joy,


Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila