February 9

GENESIS 42
Dysfunctional families, as a pastor of 25 years, I have seen quite a few of them. It is the glory of the Lord to heal dysfunctional families. I find it fascinating that in this case, not only does He heal a dysfunctional family, but he uses it to guide the course of human history to produce the nation that would produce the Savior, who would be for all peoples, who would will heal dysfunctional families all over the world.
Joseph has risen to the top. He is now 38 or 39 years old. The last time they saw each other, Joseph was 17, and Reuben was 23 or 24. Looks change a lot in 21, 22 years, especially from 17. Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him. Granted, Joseph had changed the most. He was the youngest (except Benjamin). He changed cultures and probably clothing and grooming styles. The last his brothers had seen of him, he was bound as a slave in a slaving caravan. That he could have risen from a slave to 2nd in command in the most powerful country of the world was just inconceivable. They would not have been looking for Joseph in this position. But he was looking for them. Why else would the 2nd in command be interviewing individual foreigners? He probably had his underlings looking for their profile. Anyone matching the profile, he personally interviewed them.
Joseph remembered the dream. Why the dream? Most people would have remembered the betrayal. I believe that Joseph had long ago forgiven his brothers. The healing of dysfunctional families does not happen without forgiveness. Forgiveness is choosing not to hold another person accountable for a wrong committed against you. Joseph remembered the dream because he had chosen to not hold them accountable for the wrong they had performed against him. But forgiveness did not invalidate his dream, nor did it mean that he had to once again place himself in a position where they could harm him.
He needed to find out if there had been any remorse for what they had done to him. Working on the fly, he unfolds an interesting plot to reveal their hearts to himself and to each other. Dysfunctional families can be healed. However, it requires forgiveness extended by the wounded party and a recognition of guilt by the guilty party(s). It is the glory of the Lord to bring that healing. Only He can orchestrate it, but both parties must choose to enter into it. But He puts broken lives back together. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 40
Yesterday, I was thinking of my wife. She is so sweet. I cannot believe she puts up with me. So on the way home I bought her one of her favorite chocolate bars and put it under her pillow with a note. She probably doesn’t believe it when I say that I think of her constantly. I guess my actions don’t reflect to her that I think of her constantly, but I do. Did you ever stop to think that the Lord thinks of you constantly?
5Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. . . 17 But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.
If the Lord thinks on me constantly, the next question is, “Are those good thoughts?” I am dreadfully aware of some of my sins and imperfections. Those could be motivation for the Lord to be angry with me all the time. Now that is cause for alarm! But tucked away between verse 5 & 17 are verses 6-8:

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”

The concept that God’s first desire wasn’t sacrifice and offering is found in 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16; Is. 1:11; Jer. 6:20; 7:22, 23; Amos 5:22; Mic. 6:6–8. Then why did He command sacrifice and offering? Why does the book of Leviticus focus upon it? Why do major portions of Exodus and Deuteronomy focus upon it? What God really wants from us is to love Him. What I really want from my wife is for her to love me. Loving God is displayed by doing His will. When I do not love Him and obey Him, justice kicks in. His justice demands death for sin. His love demands mercy for sin. His justice and mercy are displayed when His Son chose to become flesh, live a perfect life in love and submission to the Father, die as a substitute for us on the cross, rise again on the third day being victorious over sin and death. He came as our substitute to enable us also to do the will of the Father.
Hebrews 10:5-9 makes it absolutely clear that the purpose of Jesus’ coming was to do the Father’s will. He gave Himself to purify us of our sin. If we are pure of sin, His thoughts toward us are only pleasant. He purified us so that we could do His will. Now we who were unrighteous can proclaim His righteousness! His thoughts toward us, because of His will for us can now be continual thoughts of promoting our righteousness! Wow! He thinks continually of me, and it is good! Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Job 8
Bildad goes right for Job’s throat. In verse four he lets Job know that his children have died because they sinned. Well, yeah, we all die because we sin, but that is part of the human condition from Adam’s fall. Bildad is taking it a step further here. He is accusing Job’s kids of having done something in particular for which God is killing them. In verse 13 he accuses Job of having forgotten God and being a hypocrite. Essentially he is telling Job, “Your circumstance is the result of your sin. If you would repent of what you did to deserve this, God would restore you.”
Sometimes God does use bad circumstances to get our attention. But we need to be very careful about interpreting that as punishment for sin. God does allow bad things to happen to good people like Job. Why? So that others can see Him work in our circumstances. It brings an even greater experiential knowledge of the glory of God. It is a knowledge that tells us that he is greater our worst nightmares. His presence & glory is worth our awful experience. His presence sets all things right. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

MATTHEW 25:1-30
The Lord Jesus has gone to receive and prepare a kingdom. He has given each of us talents to invest in building His kingdom. (I understand that a talent in the parable is money, but I will use it here as abilities.) That is part of His glory. The investment of our gifts increases His glory. Some of those talents are natural gifts. Some of those talents are spiritual gifts. Some of those talents are financial gifts. Some are gifts of time. Some are gifts of personality. Some are gifts of family. Some are gifts of friends. Some have abundance. Some have few. All have at least one. Some develop their talents in order to increase His kingdom. Some develop their talents to increase themselves. Some just squander them.
I've noticed in my lifetime that many people like to look at mine and let me know how I match up to what they think my talents should be or compare them to other people's talents. Some are good at expressing their disappointment in how they think I am wasting my talents. A few have also expressed their joy at how I am developing them. I always try to evaluate what they say, just in case they are right. That causes a lot of pain. My Lord deserves all the glory that He can get. I should hate to think that I purposely gave Him any less than He deserves. To be honest, I also hate letting other people down. But if I did the sum of what everyone else expects of me, I would be working with out any sleep or leisure time. I don't think He wants that.
But when He returns and I have to give account for the investment of the talents that He has given me, the people who are evaluating me now will not be the One evaluating me then. He alone will evaluate me on the standard of what He had given me in order to increase His glory. My evaluation will not be used. The evaluation of other people will not be used. So until that day, what do I do? I keep my eyes on His glory. I keep myself in His Word and listen for His voice concerning what He wants me to do. I don't try to judge other people as to how well they are using the talents that He gave them. He is glorified most when I focus on Him, listen to Him and do what He says. That is why meditating on His glory is so important. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John