Whose Work is It?

 Genesis 47-48                   Psalm 33             John 16

 The story moves quickly in Genesis 47 and 48 from Joseph settling his family in the land of Pharaoh with Pharaoh’s blessing. In turn Jacob, Israel, blesses Pharaoh. They are settled in the land, fed and cared for. We can’t miss that the famine is still severe. As we see as Joseph becomes the hand that will make all the people of Egypt servants of Pharaoh as he acquires their money, their resources and finally their land. The final step is to remove them from the land into the cities where they are easier to oversee and control. While he then provides for them, they also have to provide 20% back to Pharaoh.

 When Joseph brings his sons, born in Egypt, to his father to be blessed he has an expectation of what will happen and what is proper. Israel sees something different as best for his family in the future and refuses to do what Joseph wants. The blessings stand and upset tradition.

 I turned to Psalm 33 this morning and was reminded that when we practice the ways of God we want to sing of the joy of the Lord. At the same time, we need a healthy dose of fear of the Lord that makes us stand in awe of him. He is so powerful he speaks, and things come into being and he breaths life into things he creates. His plans live on from one generation to the next and those nations that turn to God for direction are blessed by him. The Lord is watching those of us that have a healthy fear of him and get our hope, not from our work, but from the lovingkindness of God. We are called to wait for the Lord’s timing and our hearth will rejoice when we put our trust in His Holy name.

John 16 is a continuation of Jesus with his disciples after the Passover celebration as he prepares them for the days to come. This chapter begins by warning them that remaining faithful will make the outcasts in the very place they have learned and want to be most accepted. That being cast out is to be viewed as a service to God. This leads to a teaching about the cost of being a faithful disciple, losing things we hold most dear, including beliefs and being prepared for what is to come.

 Maybe the most important teaching here is one that is easily overlooked. Jesus promise a Helper will come whose job will be to convict the world concerning sin. That is not our job! When we want to create practices that bring about conviction, we are not allowing the Spirit to do their work. When the Spirit comes, he guides into all the truth because he is the Spirit of truth. That very Spirit will reveal the truth to us by pointing to Jesus.

 If you need to feel better about being confused about faith the middle of this chapter reminds us that the ones that spent the most time living with, walking with, and hearing Jesus found themselves lacking understanding of some of what he said. We are warned that times will come when we will weep and lament while the world rejoices. But, remaining faithful our grief will be turned to joy.

 When we ask for something in the name of Jesus we should pause and ask if what we desire is what Jesus desires as our Lord and gives us the right to speak in his name. When we speak in the name of Jesus asking for what would bring him glory, we will have reason to rejoice. In the end, this is the only thing that will bring us peace.