Send Me Ahead Lord!

Daily Reading: Genesis 45, Psalm 45, Acts 1, Proverbs 14

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”

-Genesis 45:4-8

I absolutely love the climax of the Joseph story that we read in Genesis today. 

I try to put myself in Joseph’s shoes and imagine how I would respond when my brothers show up all of those years later. It would be incredibly easy to be angry, resentful, and bitter towards the people that first tried to kill you and then sold you into slavery. These were the brothers that turned your life upside down for 13 years. 

How natural would it be to want to return the favor and use your current position of power to throw them into prison? How easy to have the posture of your heart be one of arrogance and want to throw it back in their face, “You tried to harm me, but look at what I have accomplished in spite of your best efforts!”

Instead Joseph wept. Joseph forgave. Joseph gave all of the glory to God.

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

Joseph was sent ahead to save lives.

In our own lives, there are many challenges we all face that naturally have the opportunity to cause anger, frustration, heartache, and bitterness; towards other people and towards God. In these moments, do we respond like Joseph?

At two months old, after a twelve-day hospital stay, my youngest daughter, Sophie, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and we embarked on a year of chemotherapy. 

It was a heartbreaking ordeal. 

However, one of the very first conversations my wife and I had after receiving the diagnosis surrounded how we were going to choose to view this next phase of our journey. We made the decision early on to trust God with Sophie and that he would use our story for his glory if we would allow it. 

There were still lots of challenges throughout that year, but it was so much more peaceful after turning it over to God.

At the time of writing this, Sophie is a healthy and happy 12 year old. Over the years I have seen time and time again how that set of circumstances allowed me to minister to others in a way I would not have been able to without them. 

I have seen God work through Sophie’s cancer in a powerful way in other people’s lives.

I don’t know if God caused Sophie’s cancer as a part of his larger story for a very specific purpose or if Sophie simply went through cancer because we live in a fallen and broken world. 

There are circumstances in our lives that fall into both of those categories. 

Some trials are God ordained and some are a result of the sin in the world, choices that we make, and active attacks by the enemy. One point in the Bible is crystal clear.

Regardless of whether those challenges are God ordained, God will redeem those trials in your life and “send you ahead”, just like Joseph, if you are willing.

I look forward to one day asking God in heaven about various challenges I faced in my life. Did he put them there for a purpose or if they were the result of choices I made that were not in line with his will or the result of living in a fallen and broken world? 

In the meantime, I have found a much greater sense of peace in accepting that I will never truly know for sure until that day. At this moment, I do have the ability to trust that the God of the universe is going to use those trials to advance his story. 

I have a much higher degree of peace and thankfulness when asking God to use these challenges to “send me ahead”.

Daily Reflection & Dialogue

What trials have you faced in your own life that God can redeem to send you ahead?