2009 - Day 15 - Tender Mercies

January 15, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Tender Mercies

Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 41 - 46 ... 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. 46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

My Journal for Today: When I’m feeling down or depressed, I love phrases like, “It’s the darkest before the dawn.” It reminds me that things may seem like the night at the moment; but the sun is going to rise on a new day soon. And that is what we see in the outcome of Joseph’s dark days in prison. Because as we read in today’s passage, the sun came up on this hero of the faith BIGTIME!

He had been in the slammer for two long years, having been incarcerated unjustly by his former master, Potiphar. And then in prison he had been led to help the Pharaoh’s butler whom he asked to give a good word for him. However, the king’s cupbearer summarily forgot about it until Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted; and the butler, who had been reinstated as Joseph had predicted two dark years earlier, finally remembered Joseph’s ability to accurately interpret dreams.

And so, Pharaoh called Joseph, who interpreted a series of wild dreams for Egypt’s king. None of Pharaoh’s wise counselors had been able to do it; but Joseph was ready and up to the task, laying out a scenario for the king and predicting an upcoming famine in the land and the need for Egypt to prepare for the coming horrors by preparing ahead of time. And now, we enter the story as Pharaoh needs someone to manage the land in preparation for the famine; and somehow, with the help of God’s discernment, I believe, the king sees that Joseph is the man for the job.

So, in this wondrous moment of God’s intervening mercy, Joseph learns, as Swindoll writes in his devotional for today, “… a broken and contrite heart is not the end, … it is the beginning.” Here we see Joseph being a wonderful example of someone who waited and waited in faith in the dungeon of life, knowing that God was always in control and that the Lord would never leave him there in prison. Joseph’s faith had allowed him to go through the fire of testing so that the dross in Joseph’s life could be burned off. And now our hero had emerged as pure gold, purified and ready for a God-laden plan to unfold in his life.

And wow, it began with a bang. Pharaoh puts his own signet ring on Joseph, which Swindoll points out was like giving the young man (only 30 years old) the keys to the kingdom. It was the ultimate credit card, which would allow Joseph to travel anywhere and have the authority of the most high. Talk about going from the “pits to the pinnacle,” as Swindoll points out.

Have you ever been so down you couldn’t look up; and then you find yourself lifted up with a glimpse of glory? I have; and it’s so tempting in that high moment to be prideful … a dangerous scenario because God cannot pour His grace into a heart of pride (see Prov. 3: 34 or James 4: 6). The Apostle Paul was there. In 2nd Cor. 12, we read of Paul coming down from a wondrous spiritual high; and God had to allow Satan to give Paul some “thorn,” which was horribly painful, so that Paul would come to learn that the pain was a blessing from God to keep him humble enough to receive and use God’s enabling grace. And it is in this moment of revelation that we read Paul quote Jesus, Who says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness.”

I love that passage because it’s Jesus telling Paul (and me and all Christians) what Joseph had learned. That God can use anyone who recognizes and acknowledges their weakness and submits to God’s Spirit, seeking the grace that one will need to be used by God. And God can use a Joseph or a Paul who has been seasoned by the fires of pain and privation. And he certainly did with Joseph; and I hope we all realize that God can and will use any of us IF we surrender our lives to him as “living sacrifices,” as Paul wrote about in Rom. 12: 1-2.

My Prayer Today: Lord, I would rather not have to go through prison or a thorn to surrender and receive Your grace. I do so willingly and gladly now. Amen