Joseph’s story in Genesis 37 begins in a family already carrying generations of… let’s say complicated relationships. Jacob knows firsthand what favoritism can do to a family. You would think he would know better, yet he repeats the pattern with Joseph. His brothers’ resentment grows until they strip Joseph of his fancy robe, throw him into an empty cistern, and eventually sell him into slavery.
From inside the pit, Joseph can’t see Egypt. He can’t see Pharaoh. He can’t see reconciliation or the way God will eventually bring good from what his brothers have done.
We can see those things because we know the rest of the story. But Joseph doesn’t. He is smack in the middle of it.
Compare that to our own difficult seasons. Looking backward, we may sometimes recognize ways God was working that we could not see at the time. But when we’re in the middle of it all, living the story forward, sometimes all we can see are the walls of the pit around us.
Both with Joseph and with us, let’s be clear: That doesn’t mean God caused the suffering. God doesn’t have to cause the pit in order to meet us there.
Human beings make choices that cause real harm. Families wound one another. Life sometimes takes us places we never would have chosen. But none of those things puts us beyond the reach of God’s redeeming grace.
Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle of the story right now, living with an unanswered prayer, a wounded relationship, something another person has done, or something you wish you could undo yourself.
We cannot promise that everything will turn out exactly as we want. But we can trust this: The pit does not get the final word.
God’s grace can still be at work even when we cannot yet see what God is doing, how he is using the situations we create. The story isn’t finished.
And neither is God.
Announcements to share
Next week, August 16, we will gather with our brothers and sisters of the North Knoxville Cooperative Parish at Emerald Avenue UMC at 12:30 PM.
Leadership, note that District Conference is scheduled for that same day, August 16 at 2 PM at First Knox UMC on Kingston Pike.
The Tennessee Valley District Day with our bishop is set for Monday, August 31, at 6 PM, also at First Knox.
Plan now for The Caring Congregation Training Event, Nov. 6 and 7 at Fountain City UMC.
Did you know that Nov. 7 is the centennial for our church building? We will plan a special celebration for Nov. 8.
Our annual Charge Conference is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19, at noon.
We’d love to see you in person at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood United Methodist Church, 3120 Pershing Street, Knoxville, TN. Come as you are. We’re not in the judging business. We’re in the welcoming business.
