Reflecting God - "Flexibility Is Key" by Rachelle Miller – Embrace Holy Living - The Global Church of the Nazarene's Foundry Publishing in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Genesis 45:1-15 for Friday, 16 March 2018

Reflecting God - "Flexibility Is Key" by Rachelle Miller – Embrace Holy Living - The Global Church of the Nazarene's Foundry Publishing in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Genesis 45:1-15 for Friday, 16 March 2018
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"Flexibility Is Key" by Rachelle Miller - Genesis 45:1 At last Yosef could no longer control his feelings in front of his attendants and cried, “Get everybody away from me!” So no one else was with him when Yosef revealed to his brothers who he was. 2 He wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and Pharaoh’s household heard. 3 Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef! Is it true that my father is still alive?” His brothers couldn’t answer him, they were so dumbfounded at seeing him. 4 Yosef said to his brothers, “Please! Come closer.” And they came closer. He said, “I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 But don’t be sad that you sold me into slavery here or angry at yourselves, because it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6 The famine has been over the land for the last two years, and for yet another five years there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants on earth and to save your lives in a great deliverance. (iii) 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. 9 Hurry, go up to my father, and tell him, ‘Here is what your son Yosef says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt! Come down to me, don’t delay! 10 You will live in the land of Goshen and be near me — you, your children, your grandchildren, flocks, herds, everything you own. 11 I will provide for you there, so that you won’t become poverty-stricken, you, your household and all that you have; because five years of famine are yet to come.”’ 12 Here! Your own eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Binyamin, that it is my own mouth speaking to you. 13 Tell my father how honored I am in Egypt and everything you have seen, and quickly bring my father down here!” 14 Then he embraced his brother Binyamin and wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck, 15 and he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that, his brothers talked with him. (Complete Jewish Bible).
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My entire ministry and adult life has been spent on the continent of Africa, married to an African. When people come to minister in Africa, they always hand out a schedule on paper, and say, “This is our plan, but hold it loosely. This is Africa. It will change.” Life in Africa can be very unpredictable, so flexibility is key.
If Joseph had written down his plan for his life, it would have been unrecognizable by the time his brothers showed-up in Genesis 45. His life was so convoluted and upside down from what it was when he sat under his father’s tutelage as a young boy. Joseph stood before his brothers a broken man. He knew God had taken a horrific situation and made it good, but he struggled to acknowledge. He knew God had sent him ahead to save his family.
It is impossible to know how our lives will end-up, but being flexible and teachable along the way, as Joseph was during his life, is key. God uses all of the twists, turns, and changes along our path for his glory and purpose.
Hymn for Today: "To God Be the Glory" by Fanny J. Crosby.

1. To God be the glory, great things he hath done;

so loved he the world that he gave us his Son,

who yielded his life an atonement for sin,

and opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!

O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,

and give him the glory, great things he hath done.

2. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,

to every believer the promise of God;

the vilest offender who truly believes,

that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!

O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,

and give him the glory, great things he hath done.

3. Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done,

and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;

but purer, and higher and greater will be

our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!

O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,

and give him the glory, great things he hath done.

Thought for Today: The one calling you is faithful, and he will do it.(1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Please pray: For the development of Christian leaders in Palau and Saipan.
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