Category Archives: Bible Study

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?

 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.” 40:14-15

I don’t know what kind of emotional state Joseph was in by the time we come to the “forgotten in prison” chapter of his life. Was he angry? Confused? Depressed? We aren’t told, so I can only assume that Joseph’s emotional state is not a central issue. And that’s the eye-opener.

Because if most of us read Joseph’s story the way we read our own, his story is about the feelings of his life more than the purpose of his life.

{anyone else besides me get hit by that one?}

We would focus on the injustice and the wounding he experienced and what he did to get past all that and our lesson would be that even through his difficulties, he continued to serve God. It’s a good story and it’s a true story, but I don’t think it’s the story God is telling.

Joseph was hated by his brothers, which is why he got sold into slavery in Egypt. And Joseph was needed in Egypt.

Bought by Potipher, he became a trusted overseer in his master’s house. But then he was falsely accused, trust was broken, and he went to prison. Because prison is where God needed him to be.

In prison, he met two of the king’s officials who each had a dream, which Joseph interpreted. They were then let out of prison and, true to his interpretations, the baker was killed, and the cupbearer was restored to his position. Because God needed someone near the king to know that Joseph could interpret dreams.

And while Joseph had hoped to be released right away, the cupbearer forgot him, and it would be two years before he would remember the man in prison who could interpret dreams. Because in two years, the King of Egypt would have a disturbing dream, and lo and behold, not a single magician or wise man could interpret it. But that’s a part of the story for another time. Today, this is what I saw:

Joseph’s story wasn’t about his pain and suffering, but about his positioning. His pain and suffering led to Israel coming into Egypt to escape the famine, where they became quite numerous, which eventually made Egypt nervous, so they enslaved Israel.

“Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” Genesis 15:13-14

And somewhere in Israel, there would be a 17-year-old boy who was going to endure much pain and injustice, and it would position him to open the door for God’s words to Abraham to come to pass.

How have you been reading your story so far?

{The story of Joseph resumes, and the buying and selling of humans is nothing new.}

“Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.”

Son of Jacob. Grandson of Abraham. Hebrew royalty, so to speak. Favored son of his father. He was no down and out. This ain’t a rags to riches kind of story.

It’s a God was with him story.

The Lord was with Joseph. With him as everything he did succeeded. As he found favor upon favor, being put in charge of his master’s house. As he experienced the blessings of God over everything he had.

And when Joseph underwent the temptations of a woman throwing herself at him, God was with him. With him in the false allegations and his fall from Potipher’s grace. With him in the prison. With him in the loneliness; while he was missing his father’s house.

We are well to remember that Joseph didn’t know his story as it unfolded. He couldn’t skip to the end and see the redemption that was coming. There was nothing easy about Joseph’s story, but there is something so good in it.

We’ve all had, and are having, hard stories. But when we learn to believe that God is with us in the hard places, we will also learn that just because something is hard, it doesn’t mean it isn’t very good.

But here in the middle of our story where we can’t see how it all shakes out, or the redemption that’s coming, we are trying to figure out the God with us parts. And sometimes, maybe we get confused. Like, we think that surely God is with us when our church is full and everyone likes us. Or when people are getting saved at our altar calls and the sick are healed at the laying on of our hands. When our marriage is good and our job is good and our ministry is good and it’s just raining goodness.

But not when we’re binge eating again because we still haven’t learned how to stop eating our emotions. Or when we fight with our spouse for the third time this week. Not when we barely make eye contact with people because we just don’t want to have to engage one more time today. Not when we have crawled into a hole with our depression and just don’t have the strength to crawl back out.

When our water gets shut off because we can’t pay the bill. When our character is being questioned. When none of the dreams we had are coming true. When this sickness won’t leave, or the diagnosis is a shock to our system. When the loss feels like it might break your heart so hard it will never recover.

Those aren’t the signs that God is with us, right?

But this is what He really said…

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” – 1 Corinthians 3:16

The evidence that He is with us is simple. He said He would be, and He doesn’t lie. His faithfulness is all the evidence we need.

Let’s lift our vision higher. Stop measuring God by earthly standards. He is with us, always. Redemption is our story and heaven is our home. Whether you are in the penthouse or the prison, look up. God is with you.

In the middle of Joseph’s story, there is a detour that is chapter 38, about one of his brothers, Judah. He had a son named Er, who married a woman named Tamar. Er died, and then his other brother died, leaving only Judah’s youngest son, not of marrying age.

Tamar. She could teach us girls a thing or two about survival in a harsh world. She had strategy instead of self-pity. She took a risk because it was necessary, not trendy. She was strong and she was bold. It wasn’t a cause or a headline, it was who she was and what she had to do.

Her father-in-law, Judah, had promised her his youngest son, with no intention of keeping that promise. He left her as a widow in her father’s house out of fear that his last son would die as the first two did.

Those first two sons were evil, and God killed them, but perhaps it was easier to think it had something to do with their proximity to Tamar.

{Maybe we would all like to think that bad things happen because of someone else.}

Tamar waited. For a long time, she remained in her father’s house, waiting for a promise to be kept. And then she took a risk. Did something scandalous. Pretended to be a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, unrecognized by him. He promised her a goat in return. Overwhelming generosity was not his strong suit, apparently.

She demanded security until the goat came. Not because she was excited to get a goat, but because she was a smart chick with a plan. He gave up his signet ring, his cord, and his staff. Bad move, Judah, bad move. It will come with a hard lesson.

Tamar is now pregnant by her father-in-law. When he finds out she’s pregnant, not knowing that he is the father, he orders her to be burned to death. And then Tamar delivers the coup de grâce – the signet ring, cord, and staff of the man who got her pregnant. He repents in shame, and the story concludes with Tamar giving birth to twins.

I don’t know about you, but I am left wondering why this story was given to us. What did God want us to know from it? I don’t know those answers, all I can do is share what I learned from it –

First, women can be scrappy. We have a limit to how far we can be pushed before we come out swinging, and if it means survival, we will dig deep. We will risk and be scandalous and we will beat you at your own game if you give us half a chance. And in a world where women have been treated as property, used and discarded, oppressed and dismissed… this instinct for survival is often our ace-in-the-hole. But my point in all of those words is this: we are God’s creation and this ability to rise up and come back, to be strong and courageous and fierce, did not develop over time. This is how we are made.

We cannot use it as a source of pride, nor should we pretend it’s not there. It isn’t feminism. We are not better than men, and in many ways, we are not even equal. We cannot do everything they can do, and they cannot do everything we can do. That’s not how God set it up. But we are also not less than. We are not things to be owned, traded, or sold. We are co-heirs with Christ. We are part of the whole that is the image of God. We are strong and we do hard things and we will fight hard, for our own survival, but also for our families and our communities, because that is how God created us. On purpose. We don’t have to insist the world acknowledge it for us, we can simply walk it out.

Second, sometimes, God kills people, and we need to stop pretending that He doesn’t. Both of Judah’s sons were evil in God’s eyes, but perhaps not in anyone else’s eyes. Judah may not have been able to see the evil in his own sons’ hearts, but God could, and the scriptures tell us God killed them for it.

Can we be ok with that? And if we can’t, then can we acknowledge that our inability to be ok with it doesn’t really change anything? I know the need to explain it all is strong, but honestly, sometimes the best explanation is simply that God is God and we are not. We can either trust that He is good and right and just and merciful, or we can choose to believe that our own sense of right and wrong and justice is where the bar rests.

I choose the former. And I choose to let it reaffirm that I serve an all-powerful God who is the God of both heaven and earth, who sees all and knows all and does what is right whether I understand it or not.

A God who has created me to fight when I need to, for myself and for those I love.

Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob is now entering center stage and his story tells us it’s not always a pleasant place to stand. So right out of the gate, I’m going to throw this out there…

We are part of God’s plan of redemption. Just because the place we are in is unpleasant, perhaps even painful, does not mean that it is not a good place in the plan of God.

His brothers thought he was boasting about dreams of them bowing down to him. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, but either way, it was not what it seemed. Those prophetic dreams were not simply of Joseph ruling over his family, but of Joseph being positioned to save his family.

Jacob believed his favorite son had been killed, but it was not as it seemed. The blood on his tunic did not mean Joseph was dead, but that his brothers were covering up their own sin. His son was not only alive, but being positioned by God to bring repentance from those same brothers so they could experience forgiveness.

Those dreams Joseph had didn’t tell the whole story. He would come into a royal position of power and yes, his brothers would bow down to him, but it would all come at a cost. Because things aren’t always as they seem.

In Josephs’ story we see a boy who becomes a man in the house of Egypt, a man who clearly had the favor of God on him. Until it looked like he didn’t. In the very next chapter, he went from the penthouse to the prison in a day.

We tend to see our circumstances through a particular lens and that lens is almost always focused in on us. Our suffering is ours and it hurts and it can feel unjust, or at least unfair.

It is an act of faith to see it differently.

Joseph comes across as a boastful 17 year old brat. The favored son who rubbed it in the faces of the sons who were not favored. But that is not why Joseph went through what he did.

He was part of the plan of redemption, both his mountaintops and his valleys. Even his brothers were part of the plan. Think of what needed to happen in order for Joseph to end up as second in command in Egypt.

• He had to have been sent to check on his brothers that day.

• When he didn’t find them where he thought they were, he had to keep going, rather than just go home to tell his father he couldn’t find them.

• His brothers had to hate him enough to want him dead.

• Two different brothers had to intervene to thwart the plan to kill him.

• The Ishmaelite caravan had to come by when it did, and they had to decide to sell Joseph as a slave.

• That Ishmaelite caravan had to be heading to Egypt.

The rest of the story is for another day and another chapter, but you see the point I’m making, I’m sure.

All is providence, not coincidence.

We have a God who is good, who is always for us. We know that His plans and His purposes are not only good, but they cannot be thwarted. He is in the details of our lives. He sees, He hears, and He knows. His arm is mighty to save. He is a God who saves whole families, because He is all about the generations. He knows the beginning from the end and in the fullness of time, He moves. He is a God of redemption, and His plans are redemptive in nature, and victory is always His. He does not know defeat. Ever.

So. Take a look around you. Hold your pain and your fear and your shaken life up to the light of all that you know of God.

I am believing that my current struggle and pain are part of something that is bigger than me. It doesn’t really make it less painful, but it does make it less about me and more about God. And that is what I’m after. Less of me, more of Him.

What about you? What are you after? Are you able to view your current, or past, circumstances from the lens of what God is doing in the bigger picture? Have you seen how something you’ve gone through was used to accomplish something in your life or in the lives of others?

It’s a hard perspective to grasp onto, I admit. I don’t always do it well, and I bet Joseph didn’t either. Our pain is our pain and sometimes only hindsight can see it as any good. I’d love to pray for you around this topic, so you can either drop it in the comments, or contact me via my contact page, and I promise, I will pray for you.

I have a Facebook group that is going through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. This post is the discussion and comments from the day we looked at Genesis, chapter 36.

My commentary:

“First, let’s go back to the end of chapter 35. We see Esau back on the scene, as he and Jacob bury their father. I buried my own father [in 2018], and as happened when I buried my mother, wounds of the past rose to the surface. Things that had long been buried in my soul came up as I mourned the deaths of such pivotal people in my life. Thankfully, I knew where to go with my wounds, and God brought healing through my grieving.

I can’t help but wonder what came up for both Jacob and Esau as they buried Isaac.

Now, on to chapter 36, where Esau and his descendants are in the spotlight.These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. Let’s look at the Edomites. Below are notes I found in my study:

• The Edomites worshiped a variety of gods
• In Numbers 20 the Israelites requested permission to pass through Edom during its 40-year wilderness journey. This request was denied.
• King Saul attacked the Edomites and King David made them servants 40 years later.
• Between the Old and New Testament times, the Edomites were once again controlled by the Jews and forced to embrace Judaism.
• The Edomites became known as the Idumaeans
• King Herod was an Idumaean and ruled at the time of the birth of Jesus; he also commanded the deaths of all males two years old and under in Bethlehem in order to kill the threat of a Jewish king.

So, today I discovered this: From Jacob, the Messiah came. From Esau, came the king who would try to kill Him before His time.

Comments/Discussion:

• “Wow, so interesting…Edom {a/k/a Esau} really ended up going in the opposite direction of his father and Jacob/Israel. It amazes me that the offer to pay Edom and not drink even their water, only wanting to walk through on foot was denied or they would be attacked! Unfortunately, this is no different than what goes on in families today. You can raise your children all the same but they choose their own path. Parents that don’t walk in faith can have children who choose to walk in faith.

• “Genealogies! One father, two brothers. It is interesting to consider the legacy of Esau, the man who chose his immediate needs over his future birthright. He also chose ungodly women to bear his children. Esau sowed ungodly seed and bore ungodly fruit in his children and their generations. It’s been years since I read it, but I immediately thought of the multigenerational comparison of Jonathan Edwards and Max Jukes. (You can Google it.) Edwards was a Puritan preacher in the 1700s who had a godly wife and 11 children. He spent an hour each day conversing with his family and then praying a blessing over each child. In his family line, he had 13 college presidents, 65 college professors, 75 military officers, 80 public servants, 60 authors, 60 doctors, 30 judges, 100 pastors, 100 lawyers, 3 US senators, and a Vice-President. Max Jukes was a prison inmate whose family line was researched in 1877. His descendants included 7 murderers, 60 thieves, 190 prostitutes, 150 other convicts, 310 paupers, and 440 others who were wrecked by addiction to alcohol. Of the 1,200 studied, 300 died prematurely. The Five-Generation Rule: “How a parent raises their child—the love they give, the values they teach, the emotional environment they offer, the education they provide—influences not only their children but the four generations to follow, either for good or evil.” 

• “soooooooooo are the children’s teeth set on edge because the parents have eaten sour grapes?”

• “Are you asking if the father’s sins bring punishment on the children today? I wanted to jump in and just give my thoughts on that: I do not believe that children are punished by God because of the sins of their parents. I DO, however, believe that children absolutely live in the effect of their parents’ sins. I think [the previous] comment went toward the fact that how we parent our kids affects the generations beyond them. Not because God is bringing punishment, but because there is a cause and effect principle that runs through generations.”

• “Family and legacy- so important. But it requires diligent, intentional effort on the part is us, the parents, and grandparents to pass that legacy on.”

• “So often people say “I can do anything I want. I’m not hurting anyone else.” Five Generations of people are affected by our decisions. That is major responsibility.”

• “I made a decision early on that I would break the cycle of abuse that I experienced in my family so that my children would not see that ugly head arise. When they were old enough to understand I told them my story and we grew closer as a family because of it. God began healing everything around me as I grew even closer to Him. Only God can break cycles of abuse or whatever is keeping you from Him! This chapter again makes me want to grab a big poster board and make a family tree. I’ve always wondered why God felt it necessary to have chapters with so much genealogy. I’m still working on understanding.”

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Why did I decide to share this in a blog post? So that I could share these thoughts with you:

1. If we use it right, Facebook can be an asset and not just a warzone or a place to show off our pets or what we ate that day. Facebook can help build up the Body of Christ.
2. There are currently 50 members in the group, with only a small handful commenting. But, there are many who come to the table every other day when I post a commentary, and they listen to the virtual conversation and receive encouragement and teaching.
3. Most importantly, women are taking in the Word of God on a regular basis, when they otherwise may not.
4. You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to lead a bible study. I almost always incorporate The Torah Lesson on each chapter we’ve studied so far. You can check that out HERE. Why? Because I’m not a bible scholar, but I found someone who is, and we glean from him. But the primary purpose of “coming to the table” each time, is to share what God is speaking to each of us through His Word. Bringing our thoughts, our questions, and our encouragement from the time we’ve spent reading that day’s chapter.

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In a recent sermon at my church, the pastor asked the question, “what breaks your heart?”. What is it that makes something rise up in you to say “this cannot continue”? I went home and for a couple of days, I pondered that question with God until I knew the answer.

What breaks my heart is Christians who do not know the truth of God’s Word. People who profess Christ, but continue to live lives that are based on lies, because they haven’t learned the truth, and they haven’t learned the truth because they do not open the Bible for themselves. They rely on sermons and podcasts and daily devotions to be their food, but we were not meant to live on regurgitated messages. We live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Sermons and other messages are good, and helpful for our edification and encouragement, and even our teaching. But there is no substitute for the living, active, sharp Word of God going into your mind and into your heart. None.

I find it heartbreaking that so many of God’s children are content to nibble on crumbs, when they’ve been invited to a feast.

After I understood what breaks my heart, I was undone by the fact that God knew it and gave me a way to do something about it, even though I didn’t realize that’s what was happening when I started the Facebook group those years ago.

By the way, there are tons of Facebook bible studies out there and many of them are open to the public. I’m just sharing my experience, with my perspective, because, well, my blog.

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Q & A:

• Why is your Facebook group a closed group?

Because the purpose is to minister to those in the Church. If the group becomes public, then I will find myself attempting to manage trolls, and even sincere people who are not believers. I know my limits, and I know the people I am called to in this particular season and environment.

• How do I start this kind of group?

I sent an invitation to everyone on my friends list that I knew was a believer. Those who wanted to join, joined. And then a few of those people invited their friends, with the understanding that inviting others was fine, as long as they were believers, for the reason stated above. BUT…maybe YOUR heart breaks for those who are seekers, for those you do not yet know Him but want to explore the scriptures. If that’s the case, then form a group around that!

What breaks your heart? What do you see as you look around that causes something in your to say “this cannot continue like this”? Bring the question to God and He will begin to reveal it. Maybe the action you are to take won’t have anything to do with a social media platform. But then again…maybe it will.