“Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.”” Genesis 41:52 NLT
This beautiful verse is loaded with truth about the providence and goodness of God in the life of Joseph. God was with Jospeh through all the pain and grief he experienced in betrayal by family, injustice being sold to slavery, false accusation by Potiphar’s wife, injustice again due to false accusations, yet the Lord was with Joseph. God’s presence was with Joseph in his pain and God produced something good and beautiful in and through Joseph’s life. In the story of God told through Genesis we see the faithfulness, goodness and providence of God.
Through this story we are to be reminded that we can trust God with our lives as the faithful one who fulfills His promises & purposes for our lives. And we can forgive those who have wronged us, as we consider God’s goodness & favor towards us (Colossians 1:13-14, 3:13).
“Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”
Psalms 27:13-14 NLT
• Reflect on God’s gracious heart for you and identify where you have seen His goodness working towards you & for you as you listen to the song below titled Canvas & Clay.
• What is one thing you need from Him right now? Ask Him for it and expect Him to answer.
One of the first things we learn about God in the Scripture is that He works (Genesis 2:1-3). Not only did God work in creating but He also works in sustaining and caring for His creation (Psalm 147). The theological word for this is called providence. All of God’s work creating and caring for creation is good (Genesis 1:31, Psalm 145:9). But there is another good work that God has begun in every Christian that He will certainly be faithful to finish. The Apostle wrote about this good work in addressing the Philippians saying “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 ESV). The good work that God has done in every believer is called salvation. Just as God spoke creation into existence He has spoken to each believer through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and has made us come to life from the dead. “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV).
God is alive and at work in the lives of many people that you and I come across daily and we may not even recognize it. There are many opportunities that God gives us to participate with Him in reaching the lost with gospel. The work of evangelism is all about partnering with God, to speak the good news of what Christ has done for us at the cross and call people to repent and place their trust in Christ. Henry Blackaby said in his book Experiencing God “Find out where God is working and join Him there”. This is what the life of Jesus looked like when He walked the earth as a man. Jesus said that he only did what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He was always in step with the will of the Father and the work of the Father. The Father had ordered the steps of Christ while he was on the earth and Jesus followed everyone of them.
This past Spring Break of 2013 a group of students from Valley Creek Church came to Dallas for an inner-city mission trip. I took them out on the streets to do evangelism and invite people to a basketball tournament we were hosting. There were two young ladies who began to feel a bit discouraged after they had knocked on about 7 doors and got no answer. Then they had a divine appointment. The Lord directed them to this woman named Regina who was ready to come to Christ. Regina was weary, distressed and in despair. She had lost her children to CPS due to her drug addiction and had experienced some devastating events. The father of her children had committed suicide right in front of her children. She too had been contemplating suicide. But in her pit of despair God sent two of His daughters to share His love and the hope of the gospel. These two young ladies came and told me about her and I also was able to share the love of Christ and hope of the gospel with Regina. As we spoke words of life and hope over Regina tears were streaming down her cheeks. We prayed for her and we began to sing the song How He Loves Us over her. As we were ministering to Regina I was reminded that Jesus came not only to preach the gospel to the poor but to heal the broken hearted (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18). And this precious woman was brokenhearted and God brought healing and hope to her heart when she seemed to need it the most. That evening Regina showed up for the outreach event we were hosting and she got loved on by all the students from Valley Creek and heard a message about the blessedness of being being forgiven out of Psalm 32.
Two days later on Sunday morning she showed up at City Church and we happened to be doing baptisms that morning. During the service when I asked for those who were getting baptized to come forward she came up to the front of the congregation. Now I took eight people through a baptism class a week prior to that and she was not one of those eight people. Nevertheless I felt great about baptizing her because it was obvious that God had drawn her heart and brought her to a place of dependence upon Christ. Regina had heard the gospel and she responded publicly to declare her faith in Christ. So we baptized her there on the spot. It felt like something out of the book of Acts. Indeed God was at work in the early church as we see displayed in the book of Acts. And He is also at work in our day drawing people to Himself for salvation. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 ESV). 
For The Gospel's Sake 