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Recap of 9/20/09:
1. Joseph’s character had been forged in the furnace of affliction. His faith was tested and came forth as gold. Joseph recognized God’s hand in his life. What sustained him was his certain belief that: “…God’s will, not man’s, was the controlling reality of his life.” (Ross). That was the secret to his ability to accept his circumstances and to forgive those who had wronged him.
2. In our walk and especially in our response to the wrongs done to us we must: 1) have the right perspective, God’s will is the controlling reality of our lives; and 2) Out of that perspective must grow the attitude that we can take all that life’s circumstances and people can throw at us with grace, forgiveness, and peace.
3. “It is no matter who starts our trial, whether man, or devil or even our own foolish selves, if God permits it to reach us, he has by this permission made the trial His own, and will turn it for us into a chariot of love which will carry our souls to a place of blessing that we could not have reached in any other way….Joseph was sold into Egypt by the wickedness of his brethren, but God made their wickedness the chariot that carried Joseph to his place of triumph…” (Hannah Whitall Smith quoted in Genesis in the God’s Word for the Biblically Inept series.
