The House that God Built

I often wonder how do I get out of where I am and over to where God wants me to be. I know that God does not want us to constantly struggle, He doesn’t want us to just be broken, He wants us to be blessed, he wants us to be happy. Seems like peace comes for a bit, then trouble comes after. There are sometimes I just have to cry out, “Help me Lord, so I can deal!” So I want to share this story that God gave me that helps me.

Genesis 37:18–24 NLT

18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” 21 But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. 23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

We often look at this from a jealousy perspective. But, there is another lesson here. Sometimes God allows lifes ups and downs because God needs us to be separated.

When we had our house built, the first thing that happened was the ground breaking, because they had to dig down first before they could build the house up. our perception...

1. Sometimes the way up, is not always up! Foundation

a. Sometimes you might have to go down first.

b. There are times when we have to be put in a position where we seem to be separated from everything we know. Sometimes separated from all our possessions in order to be humbled and molded enough to be used by God. Sometimes we have to get knocked of our high horse.

2. Sometimes God has to let us go thru some things, to get us ready for some things. Building was challenging

a. We often get stuck at the “going thru” part and end up missing the “get ready” part

b. This is kinda like the ups and downs of life. I think we always have the ups and downs because we struggle with the being down in the pit part, when God actually wants us to be concerned with the “what is God tryna teach me part”.

3. How we think about “stuff” is not how God thinks about “stuff” Stuff goes wrong

a. We think that when bad stuff happens, that its just bad…God doesn’t see it that way

b. Too often, we want to show people who we are, you know, I got grit, I got game, moxie, gumption….But we forget that God wants us to show people who GOD is!

You see God laid out a plan for Joseph, just like he has a plan for you and I.

We cant go by what the world has done to us…Its ALWAYS going to do something to us… But God, who sees where we are builds multiple houses. He doesnt just say here is your place, now stay there. He builds one house and when we have out grown it, He digs out another foundation on a newer, bigger house. The world wants to keep us in the old house or in the foundation of the new house. God gave us this story of Joseph so that we can see the ups and downs of life and know that he is still God.