FOLLOW LMI
"I'd like to share Christ, but I just don't know how!"
When God gives you an opportunity, just smile, pull out a copy of If We Never Meet Again or What If No One Warned You? and say, "Here's something I think you'll enjoy reading!"
March 13, 2024
- By Ed Powell
- Have Dare to Trust emailed to you daily!
- Feel free to forward today's devo to friends!
- Dare to Trust Archive
- See the printer-friendly version of this page
- Purchase the "Dare" book set (three books) in the LMI store.
"But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20
One of the most touching accounts in all of the Scriptures is the story of Joseph, who was a type of Christ in so many ways. I never read these verses without being deeply moved in my heart and spirit. When he stood before his brothers, who had so maliciously betrayed him and sold him to strangers because of their jealousy and envy, Joseph caused all of his attendants to leave, "and he wept aloud; and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard." With a heart that was torn by love, he said to his brothers, "I am Joseph!"
Can you imagine such a scene! LOVE embraces jealousy, hate, envy, pride, and betrayal, and CONQUERS THEM! Joseph said to his brothers, "Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good."
What do you think was going through the minds of his brothers? Certainly they deserved his scorn and revenge, to be thrown into prison, or to be punished for the hatred and persecution they inflicted upon Joseph. Joseph could have related his years of suffering, the false accusation of a crime he utterly abhorred, and his stay in prison, where for a time he was "laid in iron" and constrained by heavy fetters (Psalm 105:18).
When he entreated the Pharaoh's butler to intercede for him, he forgot him. Years of waiting, wondering "how these things could possibly be," knowing the bent of his heart for God, yet bound in an Egyptian prison with no hope of getting out.
BUT GOD, in His providence, had His hand on Joseph through it all! Let me bring to your attention a principle that we should never forget. God's purposes for Joseph were accomplished by the very means used to defeat them. At every turn, Satan sought to discourage and defeat Joseph, to assault and destroy the "plan of God" for God's devoted servant, Joseph, but to no avail. In "God's time and God's way," He exalted Joseph to be second only to Pharaoh, to be the supreme governor of the Egyptian kingdom, and all were ordered to bow to Joseph (Genesis 41:43). God exalted him to be both "the shepherd and the stone of Israel," that he might not only provide for Egypt and the neighboring kingdoms, but also be an effectual support to all his kindred, and preserve the lives of those very persons who had sought his destruction.
We cannot understand many of the things that take place in our lives. We are absolutely bewildered and, like Joseph, wonder how it can be happening. But God has His time, His means, and His way. If we follow in faith, daring to believe in His faithfulness and loving care, we will see His hand in it all when He brings us through our "wilderness" to His appointed place.
God's way to glory was through the anguish and agony of Gethsemane. His way to the crown was by the way of the cross. So, in our lives, there must be the "molding, melting, making process" that He takes us through, that we might "be conformed to the image of His Son." Is this not your desire?
Then we, like Joseph, must keep our eyes fixed on Him, "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Let us then wait for HIS TIME, HIS WAY, HIS WILL!
© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.
This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2024-03-13
Dare to Trust emailed to you!
To have Dare to Trust emailed directly to you each
day, type your email address in the box below and click on "Subscribe
me!" (You'll receive a follow-up email asking you to confirm your
subscription request, and you must reply to that email before you will
be subscribed to Dare to Trust.)
January
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
February
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
March
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
April
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
May
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
June
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
July
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
August
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
September
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
October
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
November
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
December
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
