God Perspective

Gen 45:5b,7a "...for God sent me before you to preserve life...And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth..."

This was it. This was the breaking point. Joseph could not keep the charade going forever. When Judah came to him and begged for the life of his brother Benjamin as well as the life of his Dad, Israel, Joseph lost it. He had to tell his brothers who he was. The very dream that he had so many years before had come true. His brothers had come and bowed down to him and now his father and mother (the moon and sun) would come into his presence and do the same. His brothers could hardly believe it. But after looking closer, after listening to his story, they realized that this was the guy that they sold into slavery who was now a ruler in Egypt.

Why did this happen? How did this happen? God. "For God" did this. For God sent me for two reasons: To preserve life and to preserve a posterity for what God had promised to Abraham. Joseph could have been bitter. Joseph could have made all of his brothers his slave. Joseph could have killed them all, but he didn't. Instead he had a God perspective. After all of the garbage that he had gone through and after all of the glory that he had gone through he saw things from God's vantage point.

This is huge. No matter how bad things get, no matter how rotten things seem to be going, no matter what trial may come our way we need to look at it from God's perspective. What is He doing? How is He working? What does He want to accomplish? It seems like we have a tendency to ask these questions when things are hard. But the thing is, it is not just in the tough times, it is also in the good times. It is in the times of plenty that we need to still look at life from God's perspective and continue to ask: What is He doing? How is He working? What does He want to accomplish? No matter what, God is always working, He is always moving, He is always directing, He is the Author if it all, whether it is in difficulty or in blessing. God is sovereign.

I need to always ask: What is God doing and why is He doing it? God, always give me Your perspective.