Created For These Times – Part 2
In Part 1 of this topic, we learned that we can always trust in God when we don’t understand the times and seasons. However, when we seek God, He will help us understand our times and seasons because He created us for these times. Our times are in His hands (Psalm 31:15) and He has equipped us to walk in them and positioned us to maximize every season we find ourselves in.
The story of Joseph is one of the most popular stories in the Bible. He maximized every season he found himself in no matter how difficult they were. Born to Jacob as the eleventh of twelve sons, he was loved by his father more than his siblings (Genesis 37:3). Joseph started life in what appears to be a season of care, affection, and lots of love from his father. Young Joseph had dreams, and he was never shy to share them with his family. Not only was he blessed with the ability to dream, he could also interpret them. Jacob’s favouritism toward Joseph made his brothers hate him and Joseph’s dreams further alienated him from his brothers (Genesis 37:5). When I read Genesis 37, I sometimes wonder if Joseph had any idea his brothers hated him before they sold him off to Egypt. I lean towards believing he probably knew they hated him but that did not deter him from narrating another dream to them (Genesis 37:9). If I were in his shoes, I probably would have stopped telling my brothers my dreams after seeing their reaction to my first dream, but not Joseph. He keeps dreaming and affirming his dream to anyone who is willing to listen. It did not matter if Joseph was in a season where he was being loved and hated at the same time, he kept on dreaming. We don’t know much about the character of Joseph while he was still in his father’s house until he was sold into slavery when the season of his life turns from day to night.
We can learn a lot from Joseph in the difficult seasons of his life. Sold into slavery by his brothers, he finds himself in the house of the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. He moves from a season where he probably had minimal responsibilities in his father’s house to a season where he was now responsible for everything in his master’s house. In Genesis 39:2, we are told that the Lord was with Joseph and he was successful in everything he did serving the household of his master. How can the Lord be with Joseph, yet He allowed him to be enslaved? God created and equipped Joseph with the resources to face and maximize every season in his life. The presence of hardship or suffering in your life is not proof of God’s absence from your life.
We don’t know how Joseph perceived this season of his life, but one thing we know is that he served his master faithfully and he feared God (Genesis 39:9). It doesn’t matter how difficult the times are, we must fear God and walk according to His command. The grace to walk through difficult times can only be made available to us when we fear God. Since Joseph was a man who feared God, we should not be surprised that at least three places in scripture tell us the Lord was with him. We see this; when he was a slave in Potiphar’s house (Genesis 39:2), when he was falsely accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison (Genesis 39:21), and when he was made Prime Minister by Pharaoh (Genesis 41:38).
In Genesis 39 from verse 19, Joseph was thrown into prison, and the season of his life goes from bad to worse, but something stands out during Joseph’s time in prison. He continued living his life as he did before he was put in prison. He feared God, carried out his responsibilities, and made his gift available to those that needed them. It was dreaming that brought him to this point in the first place so it could have been understood if he refrained from using his gift. Again, if I were in his shoes, I probably wouldn’t be interested in telling or interpreting dreams anymore, at least until I am out of prison, but not Joseph. He kept using his gift and made himself valuable to those around him. The lesson here is that no situation or condition should be the reason we abandon our gifts. God has given us gifts that will help us walk through every season He allows us to experience in our lives. Moving forward, we later see that it was Joseph’s gift that made a way of escape for him. He was referred to Pharaoh because of the value of his gift and he was set free when his gift met the needs of Pharaoh. Though the seasons in his life kept changing, his value remained constant and elevated him to where God had destined him to be. It did not matter if Joseph was a slave or a prisoner, he was always a leader and he looked out for those around him, serving them with his gift (Genesis 40:6-7).
No situation or condition should be the reason we abandon our gifts. God has given us gifts that will help us walk through every season He allows us to experience in our lives.
Another important lesson we can learn from Joseph that can help us maximize the times and seasons God has created us to experience is learning to submit our gifts or skills to God by acknowledging He is the giver and we are merely vessels. Two men in prison consulted Joseph about their dream and Joseph made a statement that really shows he had submitted his gift to God. Genesis 40:8, NLT: “And they replied, ‘We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.” ‘Interpreting dreams is God’s business,’ Joseph replied. ‘Go ahead and tell me your dreams.’ (emphasis added).
Though Joseph knew he had the gift to interpret dreams, he was still humble to acknowledge that the power of dream interpretation belongs to God. He expresses the same thought when he was brought before Pharaoh to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it’. ‘It is beyond my power to do this,’ Joseph replied. ‘But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.’’ (Genesis 41:15-16, NLT) (emphasis added).
Since we have no doubt we have been created for these times, we should live a life where we can submit everything we have and own to God, including our gifts, talents, and skills. Submitting what we have to God in every season of life is a way we can show our commitment and dedication to God. We can’t submit what God has given to us when we haven’t learned to submit our life to Him. We submit to God in both the good and bad times. Submission starts from the heart, and the state of our heart can reveal the level of our submission and worship to God.
Joseph was moulded and created by God to become Prime Minister for the purpose of preserving the Israelites and to keep God’s covenant with Abraham. In a season of fruitfulness and famine on the earth, God had created and raised a young man that will help Egypt make the best out of both seasons. In every season of Joseph’s life that he maximized before he became Prime Minister, God was training and teaching him how to be positioned for seasons with a greater responsibility where the preservation of generations and nations will be in his hands. Joseph acknowledged this when he revealed his identity to his brothers; “God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:7-8, NLT).
Submission starts from the heart, and the state of our heart can reveal the level of our submission and worship to God. Click To TweetWe must always understand that the seasons God has created us for or allowed us to experience are not just about us but for the fulfillment of God’s agenda and plan for the earth and for the souls directly or indirectly within our influence. We should never forget we were created for these times and that we can position ourselves to make the best of both joyful and difficult seasons by continuously dreaming and having a vision for our lives, having the fear of God, making use of our gifts to meet the needs of others and submitting our lives to God with everything we own.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to see that you have created me for these times, open my eyes to see the resources you have given me for the seasons of my life, and give me the grace to maximize every season. Amen.
