Another Joseph

And so in this Christmas period,in keeping with the flow of the season but still in the spirit of our ongoing series, On the Way to the Palace I would like us to examine the life of  one of the  men in the most talked about family in this season. Although  a lot of attention given to Mary and Jesus  we sometimes  forget the great role that Joseph played in the story. He is another Joseph whose son eventually got to the Palace.

“Jacob was the father of Joseph, who was the husband of Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called Christ”.- Matthew 1:16 GW God’s Word Translation 

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”.- Matthew 1 :16 KJV King James Version

We are first introduced to this Joseph  as Matthew recounts the genealogy of Jesus..His father’s name was also Jacob, so we see him and his father being namesakes with our original Jacob who had twelve sons one of which was Joseph (Genesis 37:1-2)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. –Matthew 1:18 King James Version

“This is how the birth of Jesus ·Christ [the Messiah] came about. His mother Mary was ·engaged [pledged; ^Tbetrothed; ^Ca formal agreement between families that required a “divorce” to annul] to marry Joseph, but before they ·married [came to live together], she ·learned she was [or was found/discovered to be] ·pregnant [^Twith child] ·by the power of [through] the Holy Spirit”.-Matthew 1:18-Expanded Bible EXB

The very first thing we are told after that is that he was the husband  of Mary and later verses tell us that Mary was espoused to him.In modern words they were engaged. This to me shows something admirable in his character. He was first engaged and eventually became a husband.

Joseph was a man of commitment. He  become engaged to one woman only; he was not the type that had five different sisters in different cities(some actually have five in  thesame Church!) who were believing that they were in a relationship . He was definitely a man who followed through his commitments as he eventually became Mary’s husband in spite of all odds.

Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately.- Good News Translation GNT

The next thing we are told is that he is a just man and when the Bible declares a man to be just, we better take it as the truth. Although Jesus Christ had not yet come and people had not began to live by faith through Jesus ,Joseph is decribed as “just” . Other translations describe him as  “good”, “righteous”,”a  man of stern principle”, ”honourable” .Ask any group of women to give some qualities they would want in a mate and these attributes are usually among the first to be listed.

“Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly”.-Matthew 1:19-Common English Bible CEB

“Joseph, because he was kind and upstanding and honorable, wanted to spare Mary shame. He did not wish to cause her more mbarrassment than necessary”.- Matthew 1:19 VOICE

“Joseph ,the man she was to marry was a good man.He did not want  her to be made ashamed .So he planned to leave her without telling people about it “-Matthew 1:19 Worldwide English WE

“And Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily”.(emphasis mine)-Matthew 1:119 KJ21

Although this man is just, Joseph  is sensitive. He is sensitive to the feelings of Mary and just this little phrase alone (..minded to put her away privily.....)underscores volumes of how much he really loved her. His love was not just based on “as long as I marry you”. Yes she had done something that was outrageous and he was hurt, disappointed and felt betrayed, yet he did not think there was any need to put Mary through any further turmoil. In our day, he did not see the need to go to Facebook or send tweets on Twitter ranting about how disappointed he was and looking for cheap sympathy. Usually this would draw several biased comments from people who are not seeing the other side of the picture and only end up strengthening whatever hurt he may have felt or the need to soothe his ego.Sometimes the simple reason while we choose this course of action is the need for revenge but Joseph did not have any iota of this . He knew what the law demanded but he also knew he had the rights to execute mercy. He could not control what had happened but could definitely control his reactions. He did not leave his thoughts to dwell on his hurts but thought about what it would mean to the woman he loved .This was a man any woman would want any day, He was a protector.

On the Way to the Palace, we need to be people who can be trusted to follow through our commitments and we should not let our doing things right hinder us from being sensitive to others.

.

Merry Christmas,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

On the Way to the Palace 18-The Pit 2

 “ Now when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic ,the {distinctive } multicoloured tunic which he was wearing ; 24 then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty,there was no water in it”- Genesis 37:23-24 AMP Amplified Bible

So we see Joseph is thrown into a dry pit by his brothers and the very next verse tells us that they sat down to eat food. It is very possible to be  a few inches from where help is and encounter no response. The action of Joseph’s brothers in this instance goes a long way to show us how far jealousy and hatred had shut their minds against their younger brother. Although they heard his pleas, they refused to listen and left Joseph in a precarious situation in a bid to get rid of him and his dreams.

Contrary to popular opinion on how our lives should be, we see that the life of Joseph ,a man who eventually got to the Palace was not without trouble (Psalms 34:19). He was not constantly always on Cloud 9.He had his ups and downs and honestly, that is just life. Between every mountain top experience are valleys. It is one of these valley experiences that we find here as Joseph encounters a pit.

Joseph is found in this pit because his brothers threw him inside. The man on the way to the Palace may encounter pits as a result of the actions of others or even as a result of his own action. Some pit situations may be self generated due to unwise decisions(Luke 15:11-32). It is important for the man on the way to the Palace to distinguish how he came about being in the pit as this may be a first step to coming out of the pit.

The second thing we see about the pit is that he is left alone by himself having been stripped of his beloved coat and symbol of his father’s love. Physically there is no one with him and emotionally, there is also a void. It is an age long trick of the enemy while we are in the pit, to want us to believe we are actually alone whereas the Scriptures make it clear that God never leaves (physically ) or forsake us(emotionally ) Hebrews 13:5 .On the way to the Palace, as we encounter several pits, it is of utmost importance to remember we are never alone, irrespective of our external circumstances.

The third thing about Joseph in the pit is that we are made to understand is that Joseph was not idle. He was not content to remain   in the pit thus  he lifted up his voice and cried, appealing to his brothers to have mercy. It was certainly not a pit he could come out by himself because if he could , he would have surely done so. But even his pleas for mercy fell on deafened ears(Genesis 42:21). Joseph quickly found out  that although help may seem quite near, the only help we can really get is the help that comes from God(Psalms 121:1),

 The man on the way to the Palace would encounter pits. These may come in different sizes, shapes and seasons. We generally do not choose to enter a pit but sometimes we may by our actions bring pit situations to ourselves. But whichever way we get into the pit, we must remember that we are not alone. A conscious awareness of both the presence of God and continual meditation of the word of GOD are indispensable for the man on the Way to the Palace.

Yours Sincerely,

Grace  Tom-Lawyer.

Happy New Month

⁶ Come, let’s worship and bow down!

    Let’s kneel before the Lord, our maker!
⁷ He is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the sheep in his hands.

If only you would listen to his voice right now! Psalm 95:6-7

 Common English Bible (CEB)

And so it appears that we have now arrived at the last month of the year and what a year it has been. There have been many things that have happened that even if the most respected prophet had foretold it, we would have still had doubts.

On all fronts, family, career, nation or even the world  there may have been things we never bargained for but they have come and gone and we are still here.

This year, some of us have lost loved ones that we never thought would happen in forty years, some by sickness and some have just been snatched away by the cruel hands of death through road traffic accidents or men from the underworld.

But before we go on and on about what happened and did not happen, I always like to sit back and say Lord we are grateful. A friend of mine for the past 7 years or more always gives every day of  the month of December to Thanksgiving. She encourages us daily with something for us to be grateful for and if in this last month of the year, you think you have nothing to Thank God, Thank God for me, yes seriously but let me encourage you to Thank God first for yourself, that you are alive and as long as you are alive, no matter what may be happening today, according to God’s word, it will only get better, no matter how crazy it may look now.

Where am I getting that confidence from you may ask and I make it bold to say it is purely  because God’s word says so(Proverbs 4:18).The path of the righteous can only shine brighter and brighter like the dawning of a new day. No matter what is happening in the world today, the dawn always breaks and the day goes brighter and if that has not been broken, God’s covenant word over your life shall come to pass and with that, I welcome you to December, the month we celebrate our saviour’s birth. Come, let us bow and kneel before our Lord our maker, bring him your personal praise today for He is indeed your personal God.

In His Service,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

Merry Christmas

On the way to the Palace -An Essential Commodity

I remember several years ago in a Miss World contest,one of the contestants was asked to mention three items she would take if left in a desert and given the choice of just three.I found her answer quite intriguing. She replied that she would take water,a blanket and a Bible. In the  last post, we talked about a dry pit meaning a pit without the word of God and  coincidentally just this Sunday, my pastor re-emphasized in his sermon the need for us to read and meditate on the Word of God. 

Trying to move the church to become Bible literate is a challenge for many Pastors today. Somehow the truth is we have not fully realized the importance of God’s word and even when we do, we struggle with the discipline to create time for it. It seems that we have time to do every other thing but read the word of God and sometimes there are legitimate reasons for which we postpone the reading of God’s word till the end of the day when we are already fagged out(assuming you are also a morning person). It does not need a word of knowledge (rather a word from knowledge) to know that in a few minutes of reading the Word in such  a wearied state, we would end up sleeping .And this unfortunately is the case for most of the week for many people.

According to my Pastor, just as we need food for our human bodies to be able to function rightly, we need the Word of God for our spirit man to function as well. The Word of God which has been likened to water has a cleansing and a purifying effect (Ephesians 5:26). Other benefits of the Word  include salvation (James 1:21),deliverance( Psalms 107: 20),healing (Proverbs 4:21-22) ,revival (Psalms 10:25,49-51,107,154),sanctification (Psalms 119 9-11 ), direction (Psalms 119:105) and growth(1 Peter 2: 2).As we dwell in Gods Word, our lives are enriched and produce more fruit (John 15 5- ) .There are several earthly and eternal benefits which abound  when we become rich in God’s word. Spending time in God’s Word enables us to know Him more. The more  of him we know, the richer our experience and the deeper our intimacy (Psalms 42 7, Hosea 6: 3). The more of the light we receive from the word of God and practice (James 1: 22 ),the more we can reflect and become lights in our world (Matthew 5 14-16; 2 Corinthians 3: 18) and rightly divide the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2: 15).

The benefits of studying the word of God are unquantifiable and if it is going to be of any benefit to us, then an epileptic &emergency approach to it must be shunned. The Bible should not be left on the dining table neither should it be opened to a Psalm of protection(Psalm 91) and kept under our pillows before we sleep .This to me seems like we are leaving it for the pillow to read!

Many of us would hardly go off for the day without breakfast and this week I challenge us to“No word, no breakfast”

Love the Word,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

On the way to the Palace 18-The Pit

 “ Now when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic ,the {distinctive } multicoloured tunic which he was wearing ; 24 then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty,there was no water in it”- Genesis 37:23-24 AMP Amplified Bible .

­­“When Joseph reached his brothers ,they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing ,grabbed him and threw into a cistern.The cistern was dry ;there wasn’t any water in it”.- Genesis 37:23-24 MSG The Message 

 It will not always be rosy for the man on the way to the Palace as we see in the life of Joseph. Working so hard to please his father, the only reward he gets is a harsh and brutal treatment from his brothers. They take away his coat of many colours which his father gave before dumping him into the pit. Just before we get into a pit situation(which we see eventually happens ) to everyman on the way to the Palace is an attempt by the enemy to strip us of apparent evidences of the father’s love. 

 Eventually Joseph is thrown into the pit and a salient point  to note about this pit was that it was dry. Several commentaries talk about how deep the pit was and how impossible it would have been for Joseph  to climb out of the pit himself without assistance  but it is important to realize that this pit which could have collected water did not have any water in it.

Figuratively in the Bible, water is usually used to represent the word of God(Eph 5:26-27; (Ezk 36:25; Heb 10:22) which is another essential commodity we should have whenever we find ourselves in a pit situation. In the pit situation we find Joseph, there is no evidence of external water however I believe strongly that he had God’s word and promises  dwelling within him which kept him in the pit.The Word of God that we know is what would most likely see us through the pit situation(John 8:32). 

The pit is not a desirable place and many times when we find ourselves in it, we might be sorely tempted with the shoulda,woulda ,why me question. But rather than living with regrets or of thoughts of what might have been , it is wisdom to  ensure that our pit is not dry and the word of God is dwelling richly in us(Colossians  3:16 ). There is a peace that is present as a result of the knowledge of the word of God which we have(1 Peter 1:3).

Yours in His Love,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

On the way to the Palace 17 :Before the Pit

“ Now when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic ,the {distinctive } multicoloured tunic which he was wearing ; 24 then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty,there was no water in it”- Genesis 37:23-24 AMP Amplified Bible .

“When Joseph reached his brothers ,they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing ,grabbed him and threw into a cistern.The cistern was dry ;there wasn’t any water in it”.- Genesis 37:23-24 MSG The Message 

;”And we have known and believed the love that God hath for us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him”.-  1 John 4:16 KJ21 21^st Century King James Version

"So we know that God loves us. We depend on it. God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love is joined to God. And God is joined to them”.- 1 John 4:16  NIV R New International Revised Version

“And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him”.- 1 John 4:16  AMPC Amplified Version Classic Edition
“So we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Everyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them”.- 1 John 4:16  ERV English Revised Version

“We have experienced and we have entrusted our lives to the love of God in us. God is love. Anyone who lives faithfully in love also lives faithfully in God, and God lives in him”.- 1 John 4:16 The Voice 

Joseph eventually found his brothers and got close enough to give a scream of joy and excitement at seeing them. Perhaps a hug from one of his brothers would have completed his joy. Instead it appears they gave him a rude welcome and dragged off his coat from him. If Joseph thought this was a joke initially, the reality of the situation hit him when he got thrown into the pit.

It is interesting to note that ­­­­­ one of the first things his brothers did before throwing him into the pit as they planned was to take away his coat of many colours. Let’s imagine the situation a little bit here. Did the brothers ask for the coat nicely or just drag it off him ?I am tempted to believe the latter was the case.Was there a fight as they were doing this or did he willingly give it to them.It must have all seemed strange to Joseph,perhaps he was yet in another dream.

 I must admit that it was only when I began to teach this series that the Holy Spirit pointed my attention to that tiny bit of detail the writer of Genesis had put(Genesis 37: 23).Before Joseph was thrown into the pit, his brothers took away his coat of many colours. That was a coat that may have infuriated them so many times in the house as Joseph wore it about as it showed that he was the preferred son, the  beloved and chosen one.I am so glad that   we are also chosen( 1 Peter 2:9) &beloved(1 John 3:1) . God in his infinite mercy has chosen to make us his children and this makes the devil mad. 

Severally I had glossed over the passage and listened to several sermons on from the "Pit to the prison to the Palace" but did not fully realize that before he got thrown into the pit, he was stripped of the symbol of his father’s love .This is still a tactic used by the enemy, an age long tactic that causes us somehow to begin to doubt the love of God because we sometimes tie his love to the things that surround us..

It is this doubting of the love of God or an absence of the knowledge of the great love the Father has for us( 1 John 4:16) that makes us begin to look for alternatives on the way to the Palace.Surely the enemy suggests to us that God cannot love us that much and perhaps he is too busy running the universe to care about us but how far from the truth this is (Psalms 37:23 New Living Translation NLT).And perhaps even if he does care for others , we are not good enough to demand his complete attention to detail and if only we were better at praying, giving, soul winning etc,God would love us more.

 But the truth is we cannot be loved more by God than we already are presently.And  this love is not based on works because  the Scriptures  tell us that ever before Jesus did anything, as he was baptized, God’s voice from heaven affirmed him saying “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased(Matthew 3:17;17:5) and the great news is that God loves us as much as he loves Jesus(John 17;23). Period.

 On the way to the palace, we need to realize that the pit or pit situations are inevitable but one of the secrets of successfully coming out of the pit to the palace is to remember that the truth that God’s love for us is eternal (Ephesians 1:5;Jeremiah 31:5; Psalms 103:11).Nothing we can ever do or have done can change his decision to love us(1 John 4:10;Romans 8:35-39).

Yours in His Love ,

Grace Tom-Lawyer