Happy Easter!
God is watching for people who choose His way.
Pilate thought he could stop Jesus’ crucifixion, but Jesus was 100% convinced of God’s control, even in the most chaotic moments.
So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:10-11).
Jesus, of course, was there at the foundation of the world, helping God transform chaos into life (John 1:1-4).
Genesis
The Bible starts with the story of how God transformed the chaos waters into habitats teaming with life.
“. . . darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters . . . Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures. . . God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind (Gen. 1:1b-21a).
The first book of the Bible ends with another chaos-transformation story.
The first and last stories in Genesis are the same theology (Tim Mackie).
Note: Theology is the study of the nature of God.
Joseph’s brothers, who had committed a terrible crime against one of their own, begged forgiveness. Joseph gives a startling answer.
“But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Gen. 50:19-21).
Genesis starts with stories of Adam, Eve, and Cain wanting to be in the place of God, to judge good and evil. Genesis ends with a story of a man who traversed the chaos tests and came out the other side as the ruler of the world, second only to Pharoh. In spite of this great promotion, Joseph continued to humbly walk with God, to choose to be the right person. “Am I in God’s place?“
Someone might think, “Yeah, but those are two random stories.” It’s actually the whole story. Joseph was born into a volatile situation where there were four moms . . . that was a huge problem (Gen. 30:1-24). Even before that, Joseph’s dad and grandma made a plot to deceive his grandpa and steal the blessing. God let Jacob keep the blessing but he entered 20 years of exile. Joseph’s mom’s dad, Laban, deceived Joseph’s dad and got him to marry someone he did not want to marry.
- Notice that Isaac does not take back the blessing he gave while he was deceived.
- Notice that Jacob does not divorce the lady he was tricked into marrying.
- Notice that they didn’t get rescued. They worked through their difficult situation to arrive at a better place.
Deceiving another person is not ok with God, but as we keep giving our stories back to Him, and courageously continue to trust, He continually redeems impossible situations.
Role Play if You are Stuck
(Note: If there is a large power gap, you may need professional help. I make the following suggestion for peer relationships).
Think of someone who has betrayed you or a situation where you feel like a victim of circumstances. Pick the first one that comes to mind. Almost for sure your situation will not be at the level of Joseph’s betrayal, but still… Let’s say you have forgiven the person or people responsible, but they don’t seem to care. They act as if nothing happened, or like they were justified and you did the wrong thing. There is no reconciliation. Communication is formal, distant, or nonexistent.
What if God orchestrated events, as he did for Joseph so that your enemies desired reconciliation? Let’s say you are actively praying about the situation. You might ask yourself:
(1) What would they have to do to make things as right as possible? Identifying what they would have to do for you to be reconciled is a step toward inner peace, at least on your part. The chronic stress of things that are out of your control begins to lift because now you know a theoretical solution.
(2) Next you might ask yourself if your demands are reasonable. Rather than settle for a permanently unreconciled future, it may be helpful to work it out with God, at least in a theoretical sense, to imagine if there is anything reasonable the other party might do to make things as right as possible. If they did that, would you consider yourselves reconciled?
(3) Now imagine a best-case scenario. They actually admitted to doing something wrong, made things as right as possible, and asked for forgiveness. How would you respond?
(a) If you say, “What you did was evil,” you agree you judged them.
(b) If you say, “It was a good thing you did,” that might be another judgment.
(c) If you say, “It was nothing,” that would be a lie because it really hurt you for a long time. It was something.
(d) Consider Joseph’s words, “Am I in the place of God? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” With this response, you agree with Jesus, that God is ultimately in control of everything. Now you are in the perfect place to make the best of things, even in your unreconciled desert season, or your exodus journey to the promised land. You can enjoy the quails and manna that show up out of nowhere. God will increase your capacity to appreciate His limitless blessings. An increased capacity to enjoy God’s blessing is better than increased blessings that you take for granted. Now you are training to be a person God can trust with authority.
God is looking for people who will hold true to His plan even when things stop making sense.
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