God's trial - Chapter 10
Trials to be Suffered as a Sacrifice
When Jacob came up to his brothers,they ････ took him and threw him into the well,which was dry.････ Judah said to his brothers,”Wha will we gain by killing our brother and covering up the murder？ Let's sell him to these Ishmaelities. ････ “ ････ and when some Midianite traders came by,the brothers pulled out of the sell and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelities,who took him to Egypt. 【Genesis 37:23～28】
A stormy Life of Joseph
This article describes the biggest crisis in the life of Joseph, whom Jacob doted on. He was in the middle of an emergency situation where his brothers conspired to assassinate him, but through the amazing protection and guidance of God,he was sold as a slave to some Midianite traders.As a result,his life was literally prepared for a way to escape death.
As you can see,Joseph's life has been in danger many times since then,but this article shows us another and wonderful spiritual secret:The Lord God does things in a dimension far beyond our human understanding,and even if the events are unbearable at the time,His time will surely come,and He will prepare a way of escape and ultimately make it beneficial!
For Joseph,the sudden treatment by his brothers was beyond his comprehension and difficult to accept.He was not usually at odds with his brothers.However,there was one thing that his brothers did not like about Joseph.He was loved first by his father Jacob! This was a pent up anger that stemmed from human envy.
God's Handling as a Sacrifice
The important point to be learned from this article is that God's handling of Joseph's life was such that he suffered hardships,sorrows,and unexpected trials one after another,and even in the midst of it,God dealt with him in various ways to make him grow to the next level in a dimension far beyond Joseph's thoughts.In the end,the prophetic life that God shows him will surely happen as a divine fact in his life! This is the point.
If we read Joseph's life with the first key word of living sacrifice,we will find that,in fact, even the various events in our lives that we cannot understand with our shallow three-dimensional thinking,from the dimension of God's sincere handling,through the same process as Joseph,we can see that the prophetic life that God shows us is always prepared for us at each stage of our lives.
If we actually saw the process of sacrifice, we would say, "Oh my God! This is such a terrible ritual!” I don't think we would be able to look at the horrible act.The first process of living sacrifice is (1) to be chosen as the object.It takes courage on the side of the person who chooses,but there is a sense of "What! Doesn't it have to be me? It is always difficult to accept.
Being chosen also means being cut off from the community.This is what happened to Joseph this time.He was suddenly betrayed by his beloved brothers and was sold into slavery to a distant foreign land.
The second process of sacrifice involves (2)the unimaginable goal of being killed.That's right!Sacrifice is meaningless without the shedding of blood in the process of killing,not just keeping them alive.We cannot easily accept a sacrificial ordeal like Joseph's, because it is accompanied by the physical fear of "I might be killed someday!”
The third process of sacrifice involves (3)the most excruciating final treatment,which is to be cut into parts.The head and limbs are cut first,followed by the abdomen in the middle. From the cut open abdomen,all the internal organs are cut out,and each part is cleaned and placed on a tray.After that,each part is placed on the altar as a sacrifice,and we finally move on to the divine ignition of total burning.
These are the three processes that we need to keep in mind,because spiritually speaking, we Christians cannot escape them in order to be spiritually fit as the bride of Jesus Christ.
We say,"What! I don't need to be chosen as a bride if I'm going to go through that” But the ultimate purpose of God's "handling" of us is not to kill us,but to create a "you(I) who are(am) new" and transform us into true worshipers.
The Changing drama of a leading role
The second key word in God's handling of Joseph is "separate and set apart” As a result of Adam's (Eve's) sin,we possess certain precious things.That precious thing is our life(our reason for living,our way of life).If God commands,"I will take it from you!” In other words, "I have the right to your life, so entrust it to me!” You may be able to reply,in the spiritual dimension."Yes, Lord, I will give it all to you!”,but in the deepest part of my soul,my voice may say,"But ････," and you may not be able to give it all.
However,ultimately,Joseph receives God's handling of his life,and although his actions and intentions,such as "I will ････",were prominent in his case at the beginning, gradually those things are changing spiritually,such as thinking that " God will lead (me)to ････".Yes！There is a spiritually Changing drama of a leading role.
In other words,he realizes through the Holy Spirit that God controls his life in any way and deals with him in the right direction.He thought his life was "full of negatives!” But when it comes to the result, “It is always positive!” In a dimension beyond his own human knowledge,there was always a reversal drama！
Especially in the case of this article,the brothers' original human plan was to have Joseph's blood sacrifice,or his death.However,through the amazing guidance and plan of God,he was delivered into the hands of the Midianites.That is,Joseph's life is always in God's hands, and no man's plan can interfere with God's constant protection and guidance.
That's right! Even though we may look like a clunker,in God's eyes,he sees us as "you(I) who are(am) precious”, and therefor we should confess,”He is the One who is true,who protects and guides us abundantly with his passionate love.The God who created me will surely work in many ways to bring me to the dimension of blessing and give me the best life I can truly have!”, and more confess,"It is not I who is the leading role,but God who is always true!”
May the God who works all things together for good,who prepares what is ahead of us for what we need now,richly govern your life and protect and guide and bless you always with unchanging grace,I pray,blessing you in the Holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.Amen! (Message on 8/Mar/ 2020)
