Author Archives: Karla Jo Wasion

I love Jesus and His Church. His Word is Truth, His heart is good, and His return is sure.

Genesis 43—Suspicious Grace

Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” Genesis 43:18

Joseph had already been good to his brothers the first time they came to Egypt seeking relief from the famine. Of course, they didn’t know he was their brother just yet, but they did know that for some reason, they were receiving extraordinary treatment, and it made them uneasy.

Remember how the brothers responded to Joseph’s harsh words on their first trip to Egypt?

They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Genesis 42:21

Guilt can make us assume that anything negative we are going through is a punishment, and cause us to suspect anything good that comes to us. That’s how I lived for many years, even after I was saved — assuming God was mad at me for all of the bad things I had done. And when something good did happen, I nervously waited for some mysterious “other shoe” to drop. Today, I can’t say that I fully comprehend the forgiveness that God has given to me, but I have learned to trust it.

Joseph’s brothers were unaware of how his heart was moved by the sight of his youngest brother, Benjamin, his brother from the same mother (I couldn’t wait to use that line). They has no idea the longing in Joseph’s heart to have his family restored. And because they don’t know his heart, they made assumptions that stirred up their own fears and suspicions. But perhaps it wasn’t just Joseph’s heart they didn’t know…

He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you.” Genesis 43:23

The kindness that Joseph showed his brothers in returning their money to them, was actually attributed to God, yet they remained fearful that something bad was happening to them because of what they had done to Joseph.

Sometimes, I think we struggle to see past ourselves enough to really see God. And when we do catch a good look at His grace, we see it through the filter of us, so it looks distorted. Suspicious. Like something we know good and well we don’t deserve.

If we want to see grace as it really is, we have to stop making it about us. He is full of grace. He is generous and He is kind, and His heart longs for restoration, not punishment.

He didn’t become that way for us. It was His image long before He made us in it.

Genesis 42—A Necessary Famine

“Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.” Genesis 42:5

God’s people were living in famine in the promised land, forcing them to go to Egypt to buy grain. They had no idea what, or who, was waiting for them there. Grain isn’t the only thing they found in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers found repentance and forgiveness for selling him as a slave, Jacob found the son he thought was dead, and his family found restoration.

Some things take a famine.

Famines force us up and out, in search of what we’re missing. Our famine today is not one of food, at least not in the U.S., and not yet. But there is another kind of famine – a spiritual famine, a scarcity of what we need to thrive spiritually.

Understanding. Wisdom. Joy. Patience. Peace. Power. Holiness. Contentment. The list goes on, but perhaps the overall famine that many of us experience is a famine of His presence. The sense of intimacy in His nearness.

So, what’s your famine? Whatever it may be, let it force you to get up and move. Let it drive you to seek Him, for those who seek Him, find Him. And those who find Him, find more than they knew they were missing.

“And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.” Genesis 42:6

Joseph was 17 when he had the dream of his brothers bowing down to him (Genesis 37). When that dream became reality, Joseph was at least 37, but quite possibly over 40, since we don’t know how long into the famine it was before the brothers came to Egypt. At a minimum it was a 20 year wait.

Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years between God’s promise of many descendents, to the birth of Isaac. Caleb and Joshua waited 40 years to enter the promised land, because an entire generation of unbelief had to die first. There was a 15 year wait between the time that David was anointed, and when he actually became king.

Time, more than circumstance, is the greatest tester of our faith.

Are you in the waiting time of testing? Take heart, you are in good company, and you have a good God. Don’t lose hope! There is always an end to the wait.

“They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Genesis 42:21

They knew they were guilty, so naturally, they thought what was happening was punishment. They had no idea that God was actually using a famine to rescue them, and was about to bring a beautiful restoration.

When we do not know the heart of God, we will assume the worst.

But when we do know His heart, we know His mercy. We know forgiveness. We know grace. And we know discipline that is done out of love, not punishment done out of anger.

Think about it…

? Are you experiencing some kind of famine in your life right now?

? What do you think is God’s purpose for that famine?

? Do you know the heart of God, or do you assume the worst?

Genesis 41—Connect the Dots

The story of Joseph is spectacular, but it is made more so when the hand of God draws a line from a father’s favorite son to a slave falsely accused and imprisoned, to a ruler with dreams that only one young man could interpret, to that man becoming a ruler himself, to the restoration of an entire family. Let’s connect the dots.

Joseph is sold to Potiphar, captain of the guard for the Pharaoh. It could have been anyone. He could have been sold to someone who would have just made him a slave until he died. But He wasn’t. He was sold to Potiphar. Because Potiphar had a certain wife.

Potiphar’s wife had a thang for Joseph if you know what I mean. It could have been that Potiphar was single, or that he had a wife who only had eyes for her husband. Endless possibilities here, but the only one that facilitated a greater plan, was that Potiphar’s wife had a wandering eye that landed on Joseph. Because Joseph had to go to prison.

Joseph is falsely accused and put into prison, and sometime later the cupbearer to Pharaoh is put in there with him. Because Joseph had to meet this particular cupbearer.

The cupbearer has a dream and God gives the interpretation to Joseph. Because someone had to know that there is a certain Hebrew who can interpret dreams.

The cupbearer is released and returns to his service to Pharaoh. Because Joseph needed the person who knew that he interprets dreams to be near Pharaoh.

Pharaoh has two dreams that no one can interpret, and then he is told about Joseph. Joseph interprets the dreams. And then Pharaoh issues this proclamation:

“You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”

And that is how God is going to save the twelve tribes of Israel through Joseph, and bring full restoration to Joseph’s family.

Nothing is a coincidence. Nothing is random. Nothing is wasted. We don’t know how much of what happened with Joseph was caused by God, and what was simply used by God, but we do know that He worked all things together for the good of those who belonged to Him!

In all of the suffering, all of the injustice, all of the offenses committed against one man, God’s hand is there and God’s plan is being worked. And as we will see in a bit, Joseph finally saw the bigger picture and gives glory to God.

When I consider my own story, I can connect the dots and see God’s sovereignty in my life. Can you?

40 days of truth: day 23—Resistance Is My Way Out

“ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” 

James 4:7

Resistance Is My Way Out

{re·sist·ance – the refusal to accept or comply with something}

Some days he’s just right there.

When I’m hurt, he’s there with all the accusations for me to pick from, all the anger for me to wallow in, all the ways I can hurt back.

When I’m worried, he plays out worst-case scenarios, whispering the “what ifs” that stoke my fearful fires.

When I am anxious, he offers what will kill me with comfort.

When I have doubts, he’s there to feed them until they become unbelief.

Some days I feel trapped, blind to the companion of my flesh.

And then one day I remember that some days come and some days go and what makes them better days is if I take the way out God offers.

Submission to the One who leads me to life, and resistance to the one who leads me to destruction.

I have the choice to refuse to comply. The choice to say no to temporary comfort and rickety fixes, and say yes to the obedience that brings freedom.

Here is truth for my some days: It isn’t my singing or my shouting that puts the devil on the run.

It’s my resistance.

#jointheresistance

Truth: Day 22—My Trials Will Be Good for Me

“ Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” 

James 1:2-4

I Will Have Trials. They Will Be Good for Me.

Sometimes the truth is hard to hear and what I need to hear the most.

Because like a child who only wants sweets for dinner, I want a life free from pain, free from discomfort, free from hard.

But sugar and a soft life do nothing to make me strong.

They will weaken me. Give me no stamina. Make me unable to stand. To fight. To stay the course.

Hard has come to my life, and will come again. My faith has been put through fire, and it will be again. But He never kept this from me, like a secret, a hidden thing meant to take me by surprise.

He is not out to catch me off guard. No tricks up His holy sleeve.

He has given me truth so that I can walk in truth.

I will have trials. I will not go through them alone. They will be be good for me.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Isaiah 43:2

Finish Better – Lessons from Solomon

Solomon became king, most likely as a teenager, after his father, King David died. He was known primarily for his great wealth, and his wisdom. Oh, and his many wives. The same wives who would be his downfall.

“When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.”

1 Kings 11:4

This one verse holds two accusations against Solomon. First, he allowed his many wives to turn his heart away from following God alone and toward the worship of false gods. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it – women have enormous power of influence. With it, we can either influence our husbands, or our leaders, toward God or away from Him. Both men and women need to be aware of how they are influencing or being influenced. Solomon, in all of his wisdom, could not see the danger his wives were presenting to him.

Second, while perhaps, and I’m just guessing here, Solomon thought that he could follow the gods of his wives and still be fully devoted to the one true God, he could not. None of us could. The question is, how many of us are trying to do the very same thing? Believing we are fully His, while giving ourselves to the pursuit of other things. Chasing our own hopes and dreams and far lesser loves. That kind of thing  doesn’t stoke the fire in our heart for God, it makes our heart, and our faith, lukewarm.

“The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded.”

1 Kings 11:9-10

God did not overlook Solomon’s transgressions. In fact, I don’t believe there is a time recorded where God ever overlooked unbelief and/or idolatry in His people. One could argue that the two go hand-in-hand or at least, one begets the other. When we fail to believe (trust in) God, our nature will turn us to something else to trust in, and idolatry is born.

Our trust in something or someone besides God is no light matter. It would do us well to take stock. Are we trying to trust God and our bank account? God and our government? God and our retirement plan? God and …? What are the idols we don’t think we have? Because the greatest thing that brought
about the anger and discipline of God against His people was their unbelief and idolatry.

We stand in grace, you and I. But God does not change. Which brings me to the final point of all of this.

“So the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon.”

1 Kings 11:14

“God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon.”

1 Kings 11:23

It doesn’t say that God Himself became Solomon’s enemy, but that He raised up certain men for it. Solomon would pay the price for his idolatry, but it wouldn’t come from a lightning bolt from heaven, but from men. All of that birthed this thought for me:

How many times has God used other people to straighten my crooked ways? How many of the people who have been the hardest for me to bear, were raised up by God to correct me or bring discipline to me?

As His child, I know that God will not reject me, remove His love from me, or walk away from His covenant with me. But His Word is clear that He disciplines those He loves.

So now I must look back at those times when I believed I was treated wrongly or harshly, or had people who were just a general nuisance and thorn in my side, and see if perhaps God had raised someone up to be the instrument of change for me.

The Nutshell Version:

  • Be careful of what or who is influencing you. And be just as careful how you influence others.
  • Are you wholeheartedly devoted to God? I know it may feel like you are, but does your life demonstrate that your feeling is true?
  • Is it possible that God has raised up others in your life as a correction, or discipline, of your ways? 

Solomon started well, but he did not finish well. May you and I take notice, and determine that we will finish not only well, but better than we started.

I for one want to be more on fire, longing for Him more than the deer pants for water, seeking Him with all of my heart, and have eyes that are fixed only on Him for the rest of my days. Don’t you?

Truth: Day 21—The Blessing is Worth It

“ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 

Matthew 5:11-12

The Blessing Is Worth It

Just today, it hit me. I am in little danger of the blessing this passage promises.

I’m pretty non-confrontational. Quiet about my strongly held convictions, in certain circles. The circles that could make me unwelcome. Insult me. Speak ill of me.

But lately I’ve taken notice of the glaring avoidance in my life.

I avoid uncomfortable, for me or anyone else.

I avoid taking the unpopular stance, unless I’m around other people who are also taking the same stance, so that we’re all standing in our little stance circle, nodding at one another as though we are setting the world on fire right where we stand.

I don’t believe Jesus was recommending that we go out of our way to pick a fight. If we are following Him close enough, the fight will pick us. The choice we have is to avoid the fight, or to wade in with our shield of faith raised and our sword at the ready, knowing it will likely cost us.

John the Baptist is a good example. He spoke his message of repentance without apology. Said harsh truth to the religious leaders. Called out a king’s sin.

For that, he lost his life. But John inherited the blessing of “great is your reward in heaven” and I’m willing to bet he wouldn’t trade it for all the comfortable places on the planet.

I want to speak truth so that I will live truth.

There is a blessing for those willing to live a life of faith that draws insults and persecution.

It is worth every risk.