Skip to content

Tag: perspective

3

Published on 3 Comments on James 1:9-11 Pride of Place?

Regular readers of this blog will probably have noticed that I have been away for a few weeks.  I have been quite ill, and I would like to thank my guest authors for filling in the gap while I was unable to write.  It started out as a pretty average illness, but a reaction to medication made it quite serious.  I honestly thought I might die.  That’s the kind of feeling that tends to change your perspective on life, and make you think about eternity.

I believe that James was trying to teach a similar lesson in James 1:9-11.  He says that the poor should take pride in their high position, and the rich should take pride in their low position.  That is not to say that either are necessarily in the position they are in because of the amount of money or material possessions that they have.  The point is that those who have little money tend to put their trust in God, while those who are wealthy face the temptation of putting their trust in their own riches and their own ability to control things.  Unfortunately that is a false hope, because we truly do not have control over what happens to us.  Yes, there are some aspects of our lives that we control; we do have the power to make wise or unwise choices that can affect our future, but there is a large part of our lives than can be affected by outside forces as well.  Anything could happen at any moment that would change our life forever, or end it instantly.

The Bible is not against having wealth, but it is against making it a priority in our lives and trusting in it for our salvation from the trials that we face.  The Bible tells us that God can provide for any need that we may have. (Matthew 6:19-34, Luke 12:29-32)  God wants us to trust in Him, and to be men and women of strong character.  He does not look at our outward appearance or at our possessions, but at our heart.  (I Samuel 16:7)  We need to make sure that our hearts are wholly devoted to Him, and then we will be ready for eternity.

Published on

Because of the challenging circumstances in my life right now which make it difficult for me to spend time at my computer, I am going to be sharing some of my earlier posts with you over the next little while. The first one, appropriately, looks at changing plans. I hope it will encourage you.

---------

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. For that matter, it might be more accurate to say that usually things don’t go according to plan. Our plans anyway. That was certainly the case for Joseph, whose story is told in Genesis 37-50. Let me give you the condensed version in case you are not familiar with the story.

Joseph was his father Jacob’s favourite son which made his brothers jealous. When he was a teenager Joseph had a dream that was interpreted to mean that one day his brothers would bow down to him. This didn’t endear him to his brothers, who then conspired to kill him. One brother opposed the killing, but was willing to leave him stranded in a well, with the intention of coming back to rescue him later. In the meantime the other brothers came up with a different plan—to sell him as a slave. Joseph was taken to Egypt where he worked for Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph and made a pass at him. When Joseph refused her, she accused him of trying to rape her. Joseph was thrown into prison where some time later he interpreted the dreams of two other prisoners. Eventually one of them remembered him to Pharaoh--when Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted. The interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream led to Joseph being put in charge of storing food for the famine that was to come, which saved the lives of many people including Joseph’s brothers who in desperation came to Egypt in search of food. Joseph chose to forgive his brothers, but when their father died the brothers feared that Joseph would seek revenge. Joseph’s answer to them is Genesis 50:20: What you meant for evil, God meant for good.

God’s plans are not thwarted by the deeds of humans. Because our perspective is so limited, it is difficult for us to really understand how things can possibly work out for good when we are in the midst of terrible situations. I’m sure there must have been times when Joseph wondered why all these horrible things were happening to him, but he trusted God. That is significant in itself since Joseph didn’t have the benefit of written scripture to encourage him. Yet he must have had a good relationship with God, because scripture now tells us that the Lord was with Joseph, and Joseph continued to do the right things despite being physically harmed, sold into slavery and falsely accused and imprisoned.

Thankfully we get to see the end of Joseph’s story, and see that things worked out for the best. Joseph saved not only his own family members, but also many Egyptians and whatever foreigners came to Egypt in search of food. And because the Israelites were saved in Egypt, they went on to become a great nation. Through the Israelites, Jesus came into the world, and brought salvation for all. So Joseph saved more lives than he could have at that time imagined. Joseph surely knew the promise that God had made to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-16), and he trusted God to fulfill it.

You may be in a struggle right now that you can’t see the end of. You don’t know what will come of it, but God does. He already knows what the ending will be. I hope that you are able to look back at previous struggles and see how they worked out, and maybe that will give you some encouragement to keep going, and to keep doing what is right in God’s eyes. (Galatians 6:9) God has a good plan for your life. (Jeremiah 29:11) Trust Him to fulfill it.

Published on

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan.  For that matter, it might be more accurate to say that usually things don’t go according to plan.  Our plans anyway.  That was certainly the case for Joseph, whose story is told in Genesis 37-50.  Let me give you the condensed version in case you are not familiar with the story.

Joseph was his father Jacob’s favourite son which made his brothers jealous.  When he was a teenager Joseph had a dream that was interpreted to mean that one day his brothers would bow down to him.  This didn’t endear him to his brothers who conspired to kill him.  One brother opposed the killing, but was willing to leave him stranded in a well, with the intention of coming back to rescue him later.  In the meantime the other brothers came up with a different plan—to sell him as a slave.  Joseph was taken to Egypt where he worked for Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.  Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph and made a pass at him.  When Joseph refused her, she accused him of trying to rape her.  Joseph was thrown into prison where some time later he interpreted the dreams of two other prisoners.  Eventually one of them remembered him to Pharaoh, when Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted.  The interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream led to Joseph being put in charge of storing food for the famine that was to come, which saved the lives of many people including Joseph’s brothers who in desperation came to Egypt in search of food.  Joseph chose to forgive his brothers, but when their father died the brothers feared that Joseph would seek revenge.  Joseph’s answer to them is Genesis 50:20:  What you meant for evil, God meant for good.

God’s plans are not thwarted by the deeds of humans.  Because our perspective is so limited, it is difficult for us to really understand how things can possibly work out for good when we are in the midst of terrible situations.  I’m sure there must have been times when Joseph wondered why all these horrible things were happening to him, but he trusted God.  That is significant in itself since Joseph didn’t have the benefit of written scripture to encourage him.  Yet he must have had a good relationship with God, because scripture now tells us that the Lord was with Joseph, and Joseph continued to do the right things despite being physically harmed, sold into slavery and falsely accused and imprisoned.

Thankfully we get to see the end of Joseph’s story, and see that things worked out for the best.  Joseph saved not only his own family members, but also many Egyptians and whatever foreigners came to Egypt in search of food.  And because the Israelites were saved in Egypt, they went on to become a great nation.  Through the Israelites, Jesus came into the world, and brought salvation for all.  So Joseph saved more lives than he could have at that time imagined.  Joseph surely knew the promise that God had made to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-16), and he trusted God to fulfill it.

You may be in a struggle right now that you can’t see the end of.  You don’t know what will come of it, but God does.  He already knows what the ending will be.  I hope that you are able to look back at previous struggles and see how they worked out, and maybe that will give you some encouragement to keep going, and to keep doing what is right in God’s eyes.  God has a good plan for your life.  (Jeremiah 29:11)  Trust Him to fulfill it.