“IN THE PLACE OF GOD?”

Genesis 50:19-21                                 (ESV)

“19 But Joseph said to them, "Do not fear, for am I “IN THE PLACE OF GOD”?

20 As for you, YOU MEANT EVIL AGAINST ME, BUT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, to bring it about THAT MANY PEOPLE SHOULD BE KEPT ALIVE, as they are today.

21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

Joseph was sold into slavery around 1733 BC, if my calculations are correct and remained a slave for 13 years.  It would seem that slavery is as old as mankind?  Like Joseph, what we elect to do with the position we find ourselves in can determine our future.  Joseph knew the dreams that GOD had given him when he was a young lad, and while he had to experience slavery and imprisonments, he never lost sight of what GOD had told him so many years before.  

Although “this world” has become a “microwave society”, GOD operates on HIS OWN timeline.  HE is GOD and HE doesn’t need to satisfy anyone’s time constraints but HIS.  Joseph was a slave to Potiphar, and then imprisoned after denying an encounter with Potiphar’s wife, which might have caused a weaker man to give up and think that GOD wasn’t going to keep HIS Promise.  But Joseph just kept on serving GOD, and ultimately wound up second to only Pharaoh in Egypt and the world!  

Do I have the yearning to GIVE UP when the fire gets a little warm?  Does my focus shift to the dilemma that I am in instead of fixing my EYES on JESUS?  “The enemy” has to resist JESUS.  1 Peter 5:8 says “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  Satan is defeated, we just need our FAITH to grow to recognize THE VICTOR lives inside of us!  

Joseph had an uncanny ability to look past his trials and SEE that GOD was using him for HIS GLORY!  When Joseph said “... YOU MEANT EVIL AGAINST ME, BUT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, to bring it about THAT MANY PEOPLE SHOULD BE KEPT ALIVE, as they are today”, he recognized that his own brothers selling him into slavery WAS PART OF GOD’S PLAN!  Maybe I should realize that I am “IN THE PLACE OF GOD” and not trying to get away from where GOD has me?  When I am “IN THE PLACE OF GOD”, HE might use me to keep others alive???