It's Time to Grow

For a while, God has been dealing with men regarding being planted. I've mentioned it in a few pieces I've written, like Discomfort in Healing. The other day, I was on my way home from bible study, and God said, "Growth is loving someone with the love of God after they mistreated you." I thought to myself "well, God, what do you mean by that?" and He showed me the story of Joseph. 

If you remember, I wrote about Joseph last week, specifically the text addressing his dream. If you continue to read in the book of Genesis, Joseph went through so much because of that one decision that his brothers made. If you go to Genesis 39, you'll see Joseph's transition from slavery. He was working for the master. He overcame because God was with him. Just taking a glance at chapter 39, I've seen "The Lord was with him," several times, and immediately I began to think about the 23rd Psalm. "I shall fear no evil for thou art with me." 

As a little girl, my mama was traditional in the sense that she made sure I knew 2 things: the Lord's prayer and Psalm 23. If I didn't know anything else, I knew those 2 things, but it's almost like I took it for granted or like I took that scripture lightly. God chose to be with me for such a time as this. He chose to be with Joseph. God didn't have to do anything, but He chose to be with Joseph. 

So to the text...

Genesis 39:11-20 New King James Version (NKJV)

11 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12 that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, 14 that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to [a]mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”

16 So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. 17 Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; 18 so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.

Joseph had been working for this master all this time, doing right by him, but the minute someone (his wife). said something about Joseph, in the master's mind, Joseph became the opposite of what he had been. Crazy, right?! It didn't matter what Joseph did up until that point. The master didn't even care because his wife said something contrary to that. I can only imagine how Joseph felt, the level of betrayal he experienced. I know it all too well. 

Genesis 41:9-15 New King James Version (NKJV)

9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. 10 When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 11 we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. 12 Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. 13 And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”

Now this was absolutely crazy to me. The same person who threw Joseph under the jail now needs him. Pharaoh should be grateful the Joseph is a man of God. Listen, had Joseph been a random off the streets, he could've been like "Nah." But because Joseph is a man of God, the glory of God showed up. The Bible says

Romans 8:18 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Future Glory

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

Joseph suffered a lot. He suffered through what his brothers put him through. He lived through what Pharaoh put him through. To go through that much pain, one would assume that Joseph would be jaded. One would assume that Joseph would be a different person because of what he went through, but he wasn't. God was still with him. That's the glory. Jesus came so that we could have life more abundantly. There's no way possible to have an abundant life and you're bound by what you've been through. Last week, my first lady preached and she said, "You can't let what happened to you handle you." Joseph could've easily became angry and bitter and so many other things, but he didn't. God wouldn't get His glory if Joseph was like that. Think this just happened by chance? Watch

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

42 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.”

3 So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest some calamity befall him.” 5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with theirfaces to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke [a]roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the [b]nakedness of the land!”

10 And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

12 But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

13 And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

14 But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ 15 In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be [c]kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” 17 So he [d]put them all together in prison three days.

18 Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. 20 And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.”

And they did so. 21 Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” 23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

The Brothers Return to Canaan

25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. 26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. 27 But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. 28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts [e]failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

So this is the second time that someone who has done Joseph wrong has needed him. Sometimes God tests us and puts us in the same situation multiple times just to say what we gone do (Yes, gone. Y'all know I'm a Southern girl). God didn't send His only son for us to stay the same person. We have to grow. 

I remember when I first started off in church, I would hear pastors preach about mustard seed faith. Yeah, it's cool to start off with mustard seed faith, but seeds are planted to grow and produce fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it didn't produce fruit. That tree started with a seed. Your faith started as a seed, but it has to grow. 

Growing in faith means going from my will to God's will. I'm a fighter. I've told y'all this time and time again. When I was younger, I would fight all. the. time. I had a problem. As I got older, every time somebody did something to me or against me, I wanted to fight. Then I started going to church, and it went from doing exactly what I wanted to do to saying "God forgive me for what I'm about to do," and then it went to "Lord, I'm giving this to you so you can handle it." Growth is allowing God to handle your problems and knowing the following scripture:

Deuteronomy 32:35 New Living Translation (NLT)

35 I will take revenge; I will pay them back.
    In due time their feet will slip.
Their day of disaster will arrive,
    and their destiny will overtake them.’

Growth is showing that you can still be better in spite of everything that has happened. The other day, I posted something about being a generational curse breaker. In the caption, I said something along the lines that we don't have to settle for our bondage. You can grow from that too.