Select Video 3 summary if you did not watch the video
All of us naturally avoid times of struggle, pain, and hardships, but these moments in life might just be the tool God uses to accomplish His will in and through us.
1. From a human standpoint (the Lower Story), Joseph was in the worst place; abandoned by family, sold into slavery, cast into prison (Genesis 39:20-23); The Story, p 29-32. From a divine perspective (Upper Story), he was in the best place. How do you see God working in Joseph and showing blessing, even in the pain of these moments of his life?
Since we have the benefit of seeing how Joseph’s story worked out, it’s easy to see how God was working in his life and we may not take the time to consider how he felt and how he struggled in faith or if he worried how others might see his life. I can’t imagine how Joseph must have questioned his situation at each stage seemingly going from bad to good to worse….what a rollercoaster. I am so thankful for Joseph’s story and the encouragement it provides to us when things just don’t seem to line up with our expectations or how we think God “should” be working in our lives. It is easy to take the outcome of Joseph’s story for granted and quickly doubt and wonder what God is up to in our lives. Joseph is an example of how we need to trust God and wait on Him no matter what the outcome. In Josephs story, he at least gets to see the outcome of his patience in this life. We like happy endings. We like to see things worked out in our lifetime. But remember, Abraham didn’t see the promise fulfilled in his lifetime here in the Lower Story. We need to keep the bigger perspective in mind too and know that our story doesn’t end here. The final outcome is not constrained by our earthly timeframe. You can bet Abraham and Sarah have been celebrating the fulfillment of the promise from their new perspective in the Upper Story.
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2. In the darkest times of Joseph’s life, we read that “the Lord was with Joseph.” How have you experienced the Lord being with you in the hard times of life? What are some of the signs that God is with us, even in the dark places?
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3. Joseph waited two years in prison for someone to remember him and send help. Tell about a time you waited for months or years on an answer from the Lord. How did you make it through this long season of waiting?
When we wait for long seasons in our life, our attitude and experience will strongly be shaped by our expectations. We are given many examples in the Bible that we can draw on that show that God works in His own timing. Sometimes He wants us to learn from waiting patiently, other times there may be reasons beyond even our understanding or circumstances that may cause Him to wait to respond to our situation. When we don’t know why something is happening, instead of focusing too long on why we are in that situation, we should be intent on focusing on what we do know about Christ and His promises. This allows us to trust in His sovereign wisdom and plan in spite of our circumstances or lack of understanding. “You may be in a prison cell right now, either real or figuratively speaking, but if you align your life to God, your story isn’t finished yet”.
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4. God has an amazing ability to bring good out of life’s bad situations. Tell about a time when something hard and painful happened in your Lower Story, but later you saw God accomplish something wonderful in the Upper Story of His will.
5. At the end of chapter 3 of The Story, Joseph was reunited with his brothers twenty-two years after they sold him off as a slave. What strikes you about Joseph’s attitude toward his brothers and the way he treats them? What does this teach us about the condition of his heart and the depth of his faith?
Joseph must have had some awesome quiet times with God talking with Him about his situation. Being with God and letting Him minister to our hurts, worries, fears and questions brings about transformation in our lives. We cannot help but be impacted by being in His presence. It is interesting that although Joseph ended up in undesirable situations, the Biblical account indicates that God was with Joseph, gave him favor with those around him and allowed him to prosper (Gen 39:2, 20). Unbelievers knew that the Lord was with Joseph (Gen 39:3). Can I tell you that if I ended up a slave or in prison, I would hardly think that I was being prosperous and successful (at least not by worldly standards). But God blessed Joseph in all that he did because Joseph entrusted his situation to God when his circumstances looked really bad. How do I know that….because it showed in his actions and attitude. Because Joseph sought God and was obedient to Him, God did eventually raise him to a position of respect and authority. Since Joseph didn’t let a bitter root develop in his heart, he was able to receive his brothers favorably. He had the opportunity to impose judgment on them but he chose not to. Joseph forgave them because regardless of their ill-will intentions, God was able to use his situation for good. In fact, Joseph realized that he wouldn’t have been in a position to help his family otherwise.
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6. Joseph could have retaliated and gotten revenge on his brother for all the wrong they had done to him. Instead, he provided for them and extended forgiveness. What makes it hard to forgive people who have intentionally wronged us? What can we do to forgive, even when it is difficult?
It is difficult to forgive people who have intentionally wronged us because of the hurt that we experience. We want people to recognize that hurt and to apologize for the wrong that was done. It’s often difficult to forgive because to do so means we have to release the hurt which feels as though we are giving the other person “a pass”…as if what they did didn’t really matter. What helps us to forgive is to first recognize that when you release the hurt and the person to God, He can sovereignly take care of the situation on our behalf. When we offend someone or when someone offends us, God takes it personally. When we choose to hold on to the offense, God can’t do a working in our heart or act on our behalf. God wants us to forgive, not necessarily for the benefit of the other person, but for our own healing benefit. Otherwise, bitterness sets in, takes root and causes us not to see things from God’s perspective. If you think that you just don’t have it in you to forgive, we can ask God to work though us. He honors our obedient heart. That very act of obedience (even when we don’t feel like forgiving) releases His Spirit to heal the wound created by the hurt and the offense that we experienced.
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7. Charles Colson could sy, “If I had not been caught and ended up in prison, I would never have become the man I am today.” Joseph could say, “If my brothers had not turned on me, if Potiphar’s wife had not falsely accused me, I would have never ended up meeting Pharaoh’s servants in prison. I might have never become the king’s right-hand man.” Describe how your life would be different if you had never faced a specific time of challenge and struggle.
“If we love God and align our lives to his Upper Story purposes, everything in our lives – the ups and downs; the mountaintops and the valleys, the highs and the hurts, the raises and the rejections, the good and bad – is all working together to accomplish his will.”
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8.
Romans 8:28 tells us, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” What is one situation in your life where you need to embrace and experience this truth? How can your small group pray for you as you walk through this season?
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9. Read movement 1 of The Story (p. 10 of participants guide or under Definitions of this website). How does God unfold His story in this first movement and how does this connect with your story?
The unfolding of God’s story is first shown through Creation. We see that we were the focus of Creation and that God desired a relationship with us from the very beginning. In His love, He created us in His Image and allowed us to have a free will. Man
was given “law” from the beginning as God instructed them about the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and told them the consequences of
eating from this tree (sin) would be death. Man disobeyed and in God’s grace, He sent them away from the garden so that they would experience physical death. We see through this that we are separated from God as a result of sin. But God didn’t intend for us to stay in that state. God had a plan to redeem us from a spiritual death (eternal separation from God). The
unfolding of the rest of God’s Story allows us to see through the
covenant with Abraham, God had a plan to restore our relationship with
Him. Through Isaac, we see a
foreshadowing of how this redemptive plan would be fulfilled through the
death of God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, we would experience redemption and have eternal life.
Thousands of years later, we see that this plan included us and connects with our story. These are not some distant stories, isolated from our current day experiences. You
and I are directly affected by the obedience and actions of Abraham,
Jacob and Joseph drawing them close to us and as affecting to us as if
they occurred yesterday. The Old
Testament is not just history but it is “His-story”, alive and relevant
to our understanding that God wants to be active in our lives today and
desires a relationship with us through His Son, Jesus!
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Digging Deeper....
Digging Deeper in The Story: You may have noticed that we are seeing references to the Hebrew people being called “Israelites”. As a point of reference, The Story, (p 23/24, 25) notes that Jacob, after wrestling with an angel (some say this may have been Jesus), is renamed Israel because he wrestled with God. An explanation and significance of this event can be found in the following reference: http://www.gotquestions.org/Jacob-wrestling-with-God.html#ixzz2rv9LLhlf Following this event, The Story refers to both Jacob and Israel. It is after this that we begin seeing references to the Israelites. For perspective, the Israelites were Jacob’s (Israel’s) 12 sons (12 tribes of Israel) and their families and descendents after settling in Egypt (Genesis 47:27 “Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number” – see also Exodus 1:7). From here on out they are referred to as the Israelites. I think it is affirming to the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they were collectively called Israelites even though they had not yet officially become a nation and had not inhabited the promised land and were not only foreigners in a land not their own but had become slaves. The promise is reiterated to Jacob (The Story,p 25) “A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” The promise was unfolding before them. I don’t know if you have ever found yourself wondering “Why are the Jewish people special?” “Why did God choose them? I have asked this question from a 21st century perspective and trusted that they were indeed a special people but didn’t understand why God had picked them from all existing nations. The answer is not that He picked them “out from among the nations” but that He had grown them to “become a nation” set apart for His purposes. In fact we will see this explained shortly as we study the Exodus when God tells them in Exodus 19: 5-6 “ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”