Trusting God With Your Story
Imagine having a friend who claims to love books and movies, but never finishes them. They'll get halfway through a story, and as soon as things take a sad or difficult turn, they stop. For example, if they were reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, they’d stop when Aslan dies, judging the entire story and its author as bad. Or in The Lord of the Rings, they’d walk out when Gandalf falls, not liking where the story is going.
This sounds ridiculous, right? We know that to judge a story by its middle, without reaching the end, is to miss the purpose and the payout of all that came before. To treat the middle of the story like it is the end is a terrible way to judge the story (and its author). Yet, how often do we do this with our own lives?
When life takes a bad turn—maybe it’s a difficult upbringing, poor decisions, or harm from others—we often close the book and assume that’s the end. In doing this, we judge our story and its author too. But what if it’s not the end? What if God’s story for us isn’t finished yet? You don't need to close the book or grab the remote, because God is the sovereign author over all, and He's not done. That’s what we can learn from Joseph’s story in Genesis 37.
Lessons from the Pit: Joseph’s Story
If you’re familiar with Joseph’s story, you know the triumph and the amazing things God does through Joseph’s story. However, our focus today will be on the parts of Joseph’s life that are difficult and disappointing, because if we can sit in that spot with Joseph, knowing the bigger picture of all that God has going on, maybe we can start to imagine that God can still do something in our lives as well.
Joseph was born into dysfunction. His father, Jacob, openly favored him, giving him a coat of many colors. His brothers, consumed with jealousy, hated him (Gen. 37:2-4). Joseph adds to the problem by choosing to share dreams of his family bowing to him, further angering his brothers (Gen. 37:5-11). Although we later learn that these dreams were from God and would come true, in this moment Joseph's actions are not those of a prophet as much as an impertinent young boy, either ignorant to the fire he’s creating or purposefully stoking it.
Joseph’s situation worsened when his brothers hatched a plot to kill him (Gen. 37:18-20). Though his brother Reuben made a plan to try to rescue him, Joseph ended up thrown in a pit (Gen. 37:21-24). Later another brother, Judah, suggests that instead of leaving Joseph to die in the pit, that they instead sell him into slavery, and Joseph was then taken to Egypt (Gen. 37:25-28). The brothers later convince their father that Joseph was mauled and killed by wild animals, meaning no one will come looking for him, and there is essentially no chance he will be rescued (Gen. 37:29-35). Although he escaped being killed, what could have felt more like the end than this?
As the reader, we know Joseph’s story wasn’t over—and neither was God’s plan. We need to remember though, that while we know what happens later in Joseph's life, Joseph doesn't. From his perspective, he was helpless with no way out. He didn't suddenly get to know what was going to come next in his story, and neither do we. Just like us, Joseph didn't know that God's story wasn't finished.
Trusting God: The Author of Our Stories
Just like Joseph, sometimes there are moments, days, weeks, months, or even years where we will feel like it's the end for us, but God hasn’t finished writing yet.
So the question is, what’s your story?
Many of us are weighed down by the hand we’ve been dealt, guilt over our past mistakes, or ways others have hurt us, and we feel like our lives can’t change. What would it take to believe that nothing in your life has escaped God's attention? Can you imagine the possibility that God's story for you isn't finished yet?
Without spoiling the rest of Joseph's story, I can tell you that much later, he sees these events completely different from how he understood them when he was in the midst of his family’s dysfunction, in the pit, or in chains. Joseph eventually comes to realize that God had a plan all along. What his brothers meant for evil, God intended for good. Paul echoes this idea in Romans 8, reminding us that the glory that we will have in Christ in the future will make all of the things we’ve gone through in this life incomparably tiny. Paul insists that throughout all human history God has ensured that the events necessary to prepare His chosen people for His glory have or will happen, and that throughout everything we go through, we are never at risk of being separated from the love of Christ (Rom 8:28).
Have Hope and Wait with Patience
So, what do we do in the middle of our stories?
Paul encourages us to have hope and wait with patience (Rom. 8:25). Hope is an imaginative faith that God is not limited to the answers that we can see, and that someday we'll stand in a spot where, like Joseph, we too can look back and see the purpose of these events differently than the way we understand them now.
It’s hard to wait. We’re not good at it. We want God to resolve things quickly. We assume during challenging times that because things aren’t going the way we want, that means God has somehow left the control room. But maybe we need to shift our perspective when it comes to God’s plan, thinking in terms of years instead of seconds, and decades instead of days.
This means that while we may not like the cards we are dealt, God's story isn't finished yet. We might have made bad decisions, but God’s story isn’t over. Even when we suffer because of others, God is still writing, He knows what’s next, and has good plans for us.
In all these situations that feel hopeless, we are called to trust that God can still do something because we know that in the end, He makes everything right.
So what do we do?
We hope.
We wait patiently, keeping the book open and remembering that this is only the middle of the story, not the end. God's story isn't finished yet.
This blog is based on a sermon by Pastor Derick Zeulner at South Shores Church in Dana Point, CA on Sunday, July 2, 2023.
This sounds ridiculous, right? We know that to judge a story by its middle, without reaching the end, is to miss the purpose and the payout of all that came before. To treat the middle of the story like it is the end is a terrible way to judge the story (and its author). Yet, how often do we do this with our own lives?
When life takes a bad turn—maybe it’s a difficult upbringing, poor decisions, or harm from others—we often close the book and assume that’s the end. In doing this, we judge our story and its author too. But what if it’s not the end? What if God’s story for us isn’t finished yet? You don't need to close the book or grab the remote, because God is the sovereign author over all, and He's not done. That’s what we can learn from Joseph’s story in Genesis 37.
Lessons from the Pit: Joseph’s Story
If you’re familiar with Joseph’s story, you know the triumph and the amazing things God does through Joseph’s story. However, our focus today will be on the parts of Joseph’s life that are difficult and disappointing, because if we can sit in that spot with Joseph, knowing the bigger picture of all that God has going on, maybe we can start to imagine that God can still do something in our lives as well.
Joseph was born into dysfunction. His father, Jacob, openly favored him, giving him a coat of many colors. His brothers, consumed with jealousy, hated him (Gen. 37:2-4). Joseph adds to the problem by choosing to share dreams of his family bowing to him, further angering his brothers (Gen. 37:5-11). Although we later learn that these dreams were from God and would come true, in this moment Joseph's actions are not those of a prophet as much as an impertinent young boy, either ignorant to the fire he’s creating or purposefully stoking it.
Joseph’s situation worsened when his brothers hatched a plot to kill him (Gen. 37:18-20). Though his brother Reuben made a plan to try to rescue him, Joseph ended up thrown in a pit (Gen. 37:21-24). Later another brother, Judah, suggests that instead of leaving Joseph to die in the pit, that they instead sell him into slavery, and Joseph was then taken to Egypt (Gen. 37:25-28). The brothers later convince their father that Joseph was mauled and killed by wild animals, meaning no one will come looking for him, and there is essentially no chance he will be rescued (Gen. 37:29-35). Although he escaped being killed, what could have felt more like the end than this?
As the reader, we know Joseph’s story wasn’t over—and neither was God’s plan. We need to remember though, that while we know what happens later in Joseph's life, Joseph doesn't. From his perspective, he was helpless with no way out. He didn't suddenly get to know what was going to come next in his story, and neither do we. Just like us, Joseph didn't know that God's story wasn't finished.
Trusting God: The Author of Our Stories
Just like Joseph, sometimes there are moments, days, weeks, months, or even years where we will feel like it's the end for us, but God hasn’t finished writing yet.
So the question is, what’s your story?
Many of us are weighed down by the hand we’ve been dealt, guilt over our past mistakes, or ways others have hurt us, and we feel like our lives can’t change. What would it take to believe that nothing in your life has escaped God's attention? Can you imagine the possibility that God's story for you isn't finished yet?
Without spoiling the rest of Joseph's story, I can tell you that much later, he sees these events completely different from how he understood them when he was in the midst of his family’s dysfunction, in the pit, or in chains. Joseph eventually comes to realize that God had a plan all along. What his brothers meant for evil, God intended for good. Paul echoes this idea in Romans 8, reminding us that the glory that we will have in Christ in the future will make all of the things we’ve gone through in this life incomparably tiny. Paul insists that throughout all human history God has ensured that the events necessary to prepare His chosen people for His glory have or will happen, and that throughout everything we go through, we are never at risk of being separated from the love of Christ (Rom 8:28).
Have Hope and Wait with Patience
So, what do we do in the middle of our stories?
Paul encourages us to have hope and wait with patience (Rom. 8:25). Hope is an imaginative faith that God is not limited to the answers that we can see, and that someday we'll stand in a spot where, like Joseph, we too can look back and see the purpose of these events differently than the way we understand them now.
It’s hard to wait. We’re not good at it. We want God to resolve things quickly. We assume during challenging times that because things aren’t going the way we want, that means God has somehow left the control room. But maybe we need to shift our perspective when it comes to God’s plan, thinking in terms of years instead of seconds, and decades instead of days.
This means that while we may not like the cards we are dealt, God's story isn't finished yet. We might have made bad decisions, but God’s story isn’t over. Even when we suffer because of others, God is still writing, He knows what’s next, and has good plans for us.
In all these situations that feel hopeless, we are called to trust that God can still do something because we know that in the end, He makes everything right.
So what do we do?
We hope.
We wait patiently, keeping the book open and remembering that this is only the middle of the story, not the end. God's story isn't finished yet.
This blog is based on a sermon by Pastor Derick Zeulner at South Shores Church in Dana Point, CA on Sunday, July 2, 2023.
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