Date: 27 April 2002

Shalom, Boker-Tov,

I am very sure all of us have heard of the phrase, "The grass is greener on the other side" and may even have uttered it at one time or another. Many of us like to compare our situations and circumstances with those around us to judge whether we are better off or our neighbors have better deals than we do. And I have seen a number of my friends and acquaintances rushing around struggling to stay "ahead of the curve".

But honestly, is it worth it? At what cost did the achievement come about? What happened to your relationships? This week I am drawn to share with you a man of God who lived long before Jesus came into this world.

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. From a young age, Joseph had faith in the covenant keeping Lord God of Israel and he had great dreams to go with his faith. One day, he decided to share his dreams with his parents and his brothers that he would be greater than them one day and they would bow down to him and that made them mad at him. So the brothers plotted to get rid of him. They decided to sell Joseph as a slave to some Midianite Bedouins who then sold him to the captain of Pharoah's palace guards. (please read Genesis chapters 37, 39 to 47)

The Lord was with Joseph and He made Joseph prosper in whatever he did. Joseph was soon given additional responsibilities and he became the head of all of Potiphar's slaves. But one day, Potiphar's wife found him too irresistible and wanted to have sexual relationship with him. Joseph resisted the temptation and as a result, Potiphar sided with his wife and threw Joseph into the dungeon of the palace. Even in the prison, Joseph did not lose faith in the Lord; he found favor with the Lord God and soon he became the trusted friend of the jailer who made him the head of all the prisoners. One night the chief butler of Pharoah had a dream and Joseph interpreted that dream to him. The butler was released from prison soon after that and continued to serve Pharoah in his palace.

One night, Pharoah had a dream and he wanted his viziers to interpret the dream for him. None of them could and that made Pharoah angry. The butler finally remembered Joseph who had interpreted his own dream for him some time back and soon Joseph was summoned to stand before Pharoah. He not only told Pharoah his dreams but also the king the interpretations for his two dreams. Joseph was immediately promoted to the position of Grand Vizier, second only to Pharoah. Under Joseph, the Egyptians built huge granaries in large pyramids to feed the people during the seven years of famine.

The famine was so severe and widespread that Joseph's family ran out of food and they decided to come to Egypt to buy food. Soon Joseph was reconciled with his whole family and Jacob migrated to Egypt to stay in the land of Goshen. Jacob died in Egypt and Joseph decided to take his body back to the Promised Land to bury him together with Rachel his wife (Joseph's mother).

To the majority of us, had we been in the same position as Joseph when he first became a slave, we would have given up hope. Being in a dump in a foreign land would have been a really trying situation. Yet Joseph did not give up hope in the Lord. He saw his dream come alive even while he was a slave in Egypt and because of his faithfulness, the whole family was saved. Because Jacob and all his sons were saved from the famine, out of the tribe of Judah, one of the sons, came a true champion, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 2: 4 - 10, 19 - 22, wrote: -
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved ),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The Lord Jesus has given us a rich blessing ( not only spiritual blessings but material blessings also ) when we believed on His Name and became children of the Heavenly Father. The scripture tells us that we are now being elevated in the heavenly places to the same position where Jesus is today, at the right hand of God the Father. So with Jesus in us, we stand in line for His rich blessings. It does not matter where we are physically but remember, the Lord Jesus is with us and therefore we are blessed. We may be up on top of Mt Everest or on the North Pole or on the seabed in the Pacific Ocean, He is there with us, and His very presence spells blessings.

With such a sure foundation of His goodness towards us, we need not worry about our future; we need not fear the unknown. The Lord Jesus Christ had gone before us and prepared the way for us so that we can now plant our feet on the footprints where He had gone before. Indeed, the blessings of the Lord is in the MAN, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and because of our faith in Him, He will shower His blessings on us. He will not short-change us because His love for us is so perfect that no matter how far or how much we try to hide from Him, His blessings will overtake us and fall upon us. Don't you just love Him? My friend, soak in His love for you. Soon the strength to face the situations will be there for us and then we will see the enemy fleeing from us.

The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26

Shavrou-tov Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee