AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Okay so here's the deal. When someone sins against you, that does NOT give you the right to sin and handle the rest of your life the way that you want to. I think that is pretty clear from the life of Christ and the rest of Scripture. Romans 8:28 clearly says that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Joseph understood that. His brothers pretty much took a big dump on his head when they threw him into a hole and then sold him into slavery. Potiphar's wife took a shot when she accused him of trying to rape her. The baker and cupbearer hosed him over when they forgot about him in prison. If anyone had a reason to utterly destroy those who had hurt him, it was Joseph. BUT what was his reply when his brothers were standing before him? "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." Can you imagine if Joseph would have said, "You guys suck! You threw me in a hole and all of this horrible stuff happened to me. Now you're gonna pay!" God would not have been given any glory.

God is Sovereign! He is in control and holds lives together (Colossians 1:17). There is not one single atom that is outside of His control. He had a plan for the world and everyone in the world before the world began. God is not reactionary. He doesn't take a look at what is going on and then figure out what to do. NO! He has a plan and is seeing that plan through to the end, which is His glory. If there is one pet peeve that really gets me going, it when people belittle God by acting like He is sitting back doing little if nothing at all with the situation that they are complaining about.

Life is so much more than me and what is happening to me, yet that is what I get all of the time. As a matter of fact, last night I got a call from someone who is still dealing with the idea that life is all about him. We are vessels in the hands of God and He can and will do with us what He wants. What an honor and privilege to be a vessel used by God for His glory. Don't forget that! When you forget, life starts to be one big pile of dog poo. Your focus starts to go inward and your attitude becomes a "poor me" attitude. As Christians we have been chosen and set aside to do something that is utterly amazing...Bring Glory To God. God will glorify Himself through us in a whole host of different circumstances. There are Christians in the Middle East who will have the honor of glorifying God by losing their lives for Him at the hands of some Islamic worshipper. There are Christians in China who will glorify God by being jailed for life because they will have decided that worshiping God is more important than following the Chinese government. And there will be people in the United States who get the chance to glorify God by being married to an unfaithful spouse for their entire lives. There will be teens who will get the chance to glorify God by being obedient to parents who are ungodly and irrational. We are all put in different spots in life by God for a reason that has eternity attached to it..."The Glory of God". The problem is that people seem to like the martyrdom of Christianity over the lifelong devotion to an unbelieving spouse. There seems to be more glory for the martyr than the faithful spouse, and there is the problem...the glory is going to the wrong person. What a bunch of garbage. The faithful wife who prays for her disobedient husband gives God just as much glory as the Christian woman who is blown to pieces by a suicide bomber, if not more.

I am fired up! Let God be Sovereign and decide who will go through what. Be a faithful Joseph and live life according to God's Word despite the situation. "Though he slay me, yet I will hope in Him." (Job 13:15) "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if He does not, let it be known to you, O King, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:17&18) SOLI DEO GLORIA!