How far are you willing to go?

James 1:2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

This morning I woke up to the TV singing some very random music.  I asked my dad from the bedroom what in the world they were watching.  He said, “Some Joseph: King of Dreams thing.  It put the baby to sleep.”  If you don’t know the story of Joseph, let me give you a short recap.  Joseph had ten older brothers and one younger brother.  He was despised by his older brothers because he was special to his father as one of the youngest sons.  To make a long story short, the older brothers did away with Joseph by selling him as a slave to travelers headed to Egypt.  The older brothers made up a story about how Joseph died to their father.  Joseph went through many trials in the years to follow, including being in jail for something he didn’t do.   But, God blessed his patience and faith.  Through a favor he did for the pharaoh he was put in charge of the whole land of Egypt.  There’s much more to the story which can be found in Genesis starting at chapter 37.  How many of us would still hold true to our trust in God if we had ten older brothers hate us and then sell us off to strangers headed to a distant land, far away from our family?  Joseph was only seventeen at the time.  I don’t see very many of us doing that, especially at that age.  We have become spoiled in what we expect from God.  We have everything we need and still it’s not enough to us.  We expect to get everything we want, too and if we don’t get it we think our life is crap.  Now, I’m not saying God won’t bless us with some things that we want.  He loves to shower us in all kinds of blessings, but His first focus is our needs.  Can you imagine going from being in a stinky jail for years and then all of a sudden one day becoming so high up that you’re like the president of the United States?  Hard to see, yet that’s what faith can do.  

Genesis 39:2-4 “The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.  When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.”