When God is with us

Genesis 39:3, 4 And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had, he put under his authority.

When God is with a person, there are some vital signs throughout the bible which should be displayed in our lives. This gift of God being with a person was seen with specific people and purposes but when Christ came to this world and died for us, Grace was dispensed and so we have very high amounts of support with us. In the Old Testament, God was with worthy people and empowered them for specific tasks. For us in that context, the purpose of God being with us as the Holy Spirit is for one big task, as in Acts 1:8, we will be witnesses unto Jesus. This means that when people see us they should understand that Jesus lives and He is able to save and willing to glorify us.

The presence of Holy Spirit in us should not be undervalued. We may think that having the Holy Spirit is a qualification and gift. These are true but it is a great honor from God because of grace. John 14:17 says that the world does not know Him, but we can because He abides in us. This knowledge of what righteousness and holiness makes us very much different from those of the world. This anointing is the best honor a person can ever get and we need to hold it well.

We often misunderstand scripture that if God is with us, no one can stand against us in terms of business competition, property disputes etc. The verse (Romans 8:31) is purely mentioned in a context where nobody could condemn us as sinners because we all are called, justified and glorified by God the Father. This is the purpose of God being with us. He stays with us while we are sinners as He has justified us by his blood and gives us the confidence to be glorified just like Christ.

If we look at details from Joseph’s life, when God was with Him, He was given enormous responsibilities beyond his capabilities at Potiphar’s residence, the prison and when he met Pharaoh. The verses say that the people saw that God was with Joseph. This visibility should be evident in every person in whom God resides as the Holy Spirit. We should excel at everything we do as in Psalms 1:3. There is a difference between a person prospering and his work prospering. The difference is that our customers, clients would be benefitted because of us. People would want to associate with us because our work always prospers. We are not called to consume light, but to be the light.

Joseph did not deny responsibilities given to him and in 40:8, he was confident enough to say that interpretations belong to God and you can tell them to me. This is the confidence and responsibility of a person in God’s presence. As in Psalms 1:6, God knew that Joseph would handle the situation really well and so gave dreams to those men. It was Joseph who had the concern of expressing his God to them. We always think God leads us into opportunities and we have to just stay and watch. But actually God wants us to stand up and start working so that God would be with us and help us grow up.

But Jacob was not even close to this attitude. Jacob was staying put in his father in law’s place and it was one or a few instances where God could use him. Nobody saw that Jacob was blessed because of God. When Laban wanted to capture Jacob, God personally had to intervene. But in Joseph’s case, wherever he went, God was seen.

When the lady tried to entice Joseph, he did not fall because Joseph had prioritized God’s presence and his righteousness more than all the authority given to him. But at most times, we fail because we try to protect what was given to us. It is important to remember that God is powerful and is with us if we stand against sin.

Another important lesson here is that God was with Joseph in his ways. That is, Joseph was progressing and God was with Joseph blessing him. This is how we need to be. We often stay lazy asking God for directions and doing nothing. It is straight forward that we need to progress towards Christ denying ourselves and taking up the cross. God wants us to make decisions and progress in life. God will be with us and lead us towards glory if we move forward.

Amen.

The Sons of Jacob

Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.

Jacob has now settled in Canaan and now we have children bringing new experiences and maturity to him. There are two sons of Jacob who are really successful and blessed according to Jacob himself blessing his sons in chapter 49. It is required and useful for us to compare these sons with our pursuits and desires. We love many things but there is one thing that consumes all our efforts in our life which at most times becomes a home loan or children’s education. These are good to pursue and not evil and there are other evil ones like drunkenness, pornography etc. In the end there are only two children who become useful and only their lives matter. They are Judah and Joseph. These two sons are only blessed by Jacob.

Even from the names of these sons as in Chapters 29 and 30 we can see some hints. Praise (Judah) points to the relationship we have with God. Adding (Joseph) points to the relationship we have with others (neighbors). Based on this understanding if we study the relationship between Jacob and his sons we would understand what our priorities are. Jacob should point to our worship and Joseph would be compared to our ministry. There are two commandments Jesus had emphasized in Mathew 22:36-40.

The importance of Judah is seen in Genesis 29:35. Leah had stopped bearing after producing Judah the son of promise who is needed. All God actually needs is to bring forth his Son of promise to us and for this our sincere relationship with God is very much sufficient.  But our choices and further desires require us to further love our neighbors (ministry) using what we love so that the ministry would grow up powerful than all our other plans and bring us closer to God. Our love and responsibility towards others like Joseph did in Egypt would bring us closer to God.

Joseph dreamed about all the efforts of the brothers bowing down to that of Joseph’s. All our earnings like education and wealth will bow down if we toil hard in building God’s kingdom. At a stage even our love to God gives way to God’s work because ministry compliments our obedience. At last our flesh and soul would also bow before our love towards others.

During situations like famine and torture, winning souls would provide us will enough food and encouragement. Talking to and working hard for others’ problems would bring us wonderful maturity and give opportunities for Judah, our worship to be meaningful. Also we need to understand that ministry is more tempting and challenging than all our other efforts. But it is fruitful more than others if we care to do His will. Stephen was the first to be appointed to take care of tables, but he became the first martyr with appreciation that he performed great wonders.

Gen 37:4 shows how hard it is for our other priorities to give way for the Lord’s work. Especially if we consider ourselves high like the first born, it would be hard for others to cope well with our efforts for the Lord. This is the need of Joseph where every other desire would be brought together in humility as Joseph grows up in productivity. As in Isaiah 58:10-11, our garden is well watered because of our love towards others.

One mistake Jacob did was to send Joseph to his other brothers. He wanted Joseph to be aligned with the others and not rebuking the sons who were not right. We also make this mistake and then create more confusion in our life. If our priority would be that our ministry should prosper well, it is required that we accept the separation and allow our desire for serving souls to consume our other desires. If Jacob had handled this wisely, it would have been a much better situation.

There will be situations when our earthly desires would strip every honor in serving God. It is not an outsider that brings discouragement to our service to God, it is our own body and plans. They would consume us completely and try to kill it. But if we allow this calling to prosper through temptation and training, we will be serving God like Joseph did and then make way for God’s kingdom.

Amen.