"Joseph Left a Great Legacy"
"Joseph bequeathed to his posterity a priceless heritage of faith and an ironclad trust in God's promises.
Joseph was also the recipient of such a heritage. Nowhere does the Bible say that God appeared to Joseph in any direct way, or that Joseph received a message from God at the hands of an angel.
But Joseph did not acquire his faith in a vacuum. Somehow in those seventeen years Joseph had at home, even amid all of Jacob's intrigues and jealousies and mistakes, the patriarch must have instilled in his son Joseph great and magnificent truths about God.
Joseph had no written word from God, and we have no record that he ever received an audible word from God. He had only the words of his father, Jacob, speaking of the truth of God as he himself had learned it from his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham. This legacy was sufficient ground for Joseph's faith and for his sure confidence in God's promises.
Therefore, when Joseph spoke of God's faithfulness from his deathbed, he was passing on what Abraham had passed on to Isaac, and what Isaac had passed on to Jacob. Joseph passed on a wonderful legacy.
What legacy are we passing on to our children and grandchildren? We have a tremendous advantage over the patriarchs because we have "the word of the prophets made more certain" (2Peter 1:19).
We don't have to rely on or seek a visitation of angels, nor do we need to rely on dramatic experiences that are beyond the Scriptures. We find ourselves affirming the words of John Calvin when he says, "Unless the hearing of the Word of God is sufficient for our faith, we don't deserve that God should condescend to deal with us."
You and I will leave some kind of legacy to our posterity. And because we have all the word from God we will ever need, we can bequeath to our descendants the truth of God in all of its fullness."
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This past week, I finally finished a book called "The Hands of God" by Alistair Begg. I believe this was one of the books I randomly bought 2 years back when I was at TGC. I remember picking this one out because I was curious about God's sovereignty. And knowing that sovereignty is one of the hardest thing to understand [well that's just what I thought], I assumed that it would be very dense and somewhat difficult to read. I must admit, it caught be really offguard when he started talking about Joseph's life. I really didn't expect that. I was expecting him to breakdown some viewpoints or something, but he didn't do that at all. And so initially, I was a little disappointed because I wanted that kind of dense reading, but after reading the first chapter, I realized this was actually better. He was presenting an actual human's life but revealing God's sovereignty through his life. Because he used a specific person as an example, it was relatable and lead me to have a better understanding of God's providence and sovereignty. And overall, I think it helped me to really view my own life in another perspective; seeing God's hand in every part of my life and using all these things for his own glory!
But the section that I copied and rewrote was something that somewhat struck me and really convicted me. Literally, all of our patriarchs spoke of the truth and of God to their descendants without any written word from God nor audible word from Him. To each descendant, they left a legacy of God and just spoke of God's truth and this legacy was SUFFICIENT for faith and sure confidence in God's promises. Moreover, the author mentions towards the end that we are in much greater advantage because we have the word of God in front of us; it's accessible anytime whenever we want to read it. I loved when he said, "And because we have all the word from God we will ever need, we can bequeath to our descendants the truth of God in all of its fullness." And it's absolutely true! A reminder that we are blessed with this kind of privilege!
At the same time, a conviction to really speak of the truth with everyone intentionally. Yes, I must live my life faithfully and with full obedience to God and demonstrate godly and holy characters, but just living my life out like that is not all that I should be doing. I have to intentionally speak of the gospel and articulate it into words and really spread/share the truth. Personally for me, this has been a struggle because I'm not great with words. Expressing what I think and feel is very difficult. And the feedback that I always get is, "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me." If they didn't say it, I can tell by their faces. It's written all over that they didn't understand what I was saying. However, more and more, I'm understanding and realizing that those feedbacks shouldn't stop me from sharing the gospel or just anything about God. They're the most pathetic excuse I can make to not go evangelize and share the greatest news of all history! I say this because I'm reminded everyday that I'm not the one in control of people's hearts and I'm definitely not the one that changed their hearts to believe the gospel; it's all God and his doing! He will be the only one who will stir people's hearts and transform them. I am just a mere instrument that should be obedient and share his good news with everyone. The gospel is not what I bring to people, but it's what God brought into this world and what he has done to reconcile us back to himself.
Moreover, behind all this, there's God's sovereignty. God has everything in his hand. There is nothing that we can do to thwart his ultimate plan. However, that does not mean that we have a reason to not do anything because God is ultimately in control. That is foolish! This is going towards another direction, but my point is that God's sovereignty is actually an encouragement because we have someone who is in control of everything for the purpose of good because HE is good! This God brought good news to us about His Son, died and took our place of punishment and death, but rose again from the grave! I say this again, this is the greatest news of all history! More and more, I wonder why I hold my tongue from telling the greatest news of all times. Maybe it has to do with my weak faith in God's sovereignty or just weak faith in general. But either way, it is true that I must and will do my best to articulate His truth more. It is commanded from the bible ["Go and make disciples of all nations.."] and it's also my conviction!
Mmm. I'm actually not sure how to wrap up this post, but I guess I'll end on this note: walk faithfully with Him Ann, all throughout your life! Not just through your lifestyle and action, but also in word by being reminded of God's sovereignty.. trusting and believing that it's not by my works that people come to Christ, but by God's will and work!
Joseph was also the recipient of such a heritage. Nowhere does the Bible say that God appeared to Joseph in any direct way, or that Joseph received a message from God at the hands of an angel.
But Joseph did not acquire his faith in a vacuum. Somehow in those seventeen years Joseph had at home, even amid all of Jacob's intrigues and jealousies and mistakes, the patriarch must have instilled in his son Joseph great and magnificent truths about God.
Joseph had no written word from God, and we have no record that he ever received an audible word from God. He had only the words of his father, Jacob, speaking of the truth of God as he himself had learned it from his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham. This legacy was sufficient ground for Joseph's faith and for his sure confidence in God's promises.
Therefore, when Joseph spoke of God's faithfulness from his deathbed, he was passing on what Abraham had passed on to Isaac, and what Isaac had passed on to Jacob. Joseph passed on a wonderful legacy.
What legacy are we passing on to our children and grandchildren? We have a tremendous advantage over the patriarchs because we have "the word of the prophets made more certain" (2Peter 1:19).
We don't have to rely on or seek a visitation of angels, nor do we need to rely on dramatic experiences that are beyond the Scriptures. We find ourselves affirming the words of John Calvin when he says, "Unless the hearing of the Word of God is sufficient for our faith, we don't deserve that God should condescend to deal with us."
You and I will leave some kind of legacy to our posterity. And because we have all the word from God we will ever need, we can bequeath to our descendants the truth of God in all of its fullness."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This past week, I finally finished a book called "The Hands of God" by Alistair Begg. I believe this was one of the books I randomly bought 2 years back when I was at TGC. I remember picking this one out because I was curious about God's sovereignty. And knowing that sovereignty is one of the hardest thing to understand [well that's just what I thought], I assumed that it would be very dense and somewhat difficult to read. I must admit, it caught be really offguard when he started talking about Joseph's life. I really didn't expect that. I was expecting him to breakdown some viewpoints or something, but he didn't do that at all. And so initially, I was a little disappointed because I wanted that kind of dense reading, but after reading the first chapter, I realized this was actually better. He was presenting an actual human's life but revealing God's sovereignty through his life. Because he used a specific person as an example, it was relatable and lead me to have a better understanding of God's providence and sovereignty. And overall, I think it helped me to really view my own life in another perspective; seeing God's hand in every part of my life and using all these things for his own glory!
But the section that I copied and rewrote was something that somewhat struck me and really convicted me. Literally, all of our patriarchs spoke of the truth and of God to their descendants without any written word from God nor audible word from Him. To each descendant, they left a legacy of God and just spoke of God's truth and this legacy was SUFFICIENT for faith and sure confidence in God's promises. Moreover, the author mentions towards the end that we are in much greater advantage because we have the word of God in front of us; it's accessible anytime whenever we want to read it. I loved when he said, "And because we have all the word from God we will ever need, we can bequeath to our descendants the truth of God in all of its fullness." And it's absolutely true! A reminder that we are blessed with this kind of privilege!
At the same time, a conviction to really speak of the truth with everyone intentionally. Yes, I must live my life faithfully and with full obedience to God and demonstrate godly and holy characters, but just living my life out like that is not all that I should be doing. I have to intentionally speak of the gospel and articulate it into words and really spread/share the truth. Personally for me, this has been a struggle because I'm not great with words. Expressing what I think and feel is very difficult. And the feedback that I always get is, "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me." If they didn't say it, I can tell by their faces. It's written all over that they didn't understand what I was saying. However, more and more, I'm understanding and realizing that those feedbacks shouldn't stop me from sharing the gospel or just anything about God. They're the most pathetic excuse I can make to not go evangelize and share the greatest news of all history! I say this because I'm reminded everyday that I'm not the one in control of people's hearts and I'm definitely not the one that changed their hearts to believe the gospel; it's all God and his doing! He will be the only one who will stir people's hearts and transform them. I am just a mere instrument that should be obedient and share his good news with everyone. The gospel is not what I bring to people, but it's what God brought into this world and what he has done to reconcile us back to himself.
Moreover, behind all this, there's God's sovereignty. God has everything in his hand. There is nothing that we can do to thwart his ultimate plan. However, that does not mean that we have a reason to not do anything because God is ultimately in control. That is foolish! This is going towards another direction, but my point is that God's sovereignty is actually an encouragement because we have someone who is in control of everything for the purpose of good because HE is good! This God brought good news to us about His Son, died and took our place of punishment and death, but rose again from the grave! I say this again, this is the greatest news of all history! More and more, I wonder why I hold my tongue from telling the greatest news of all times. Maybe it has to do with my weak faith in God's sovereignty or just weak faith in general. But either way, it is true that I must and will do my best to articulate His truth more. It is commanded from the bible ["Go and make disciples of all nations.."] and it's also my conviction!
Mmm. I'm actually not sure how to wrap up this post, but I guess I'll end on this note: walk faithfully with Him Ann, all throughout your life! Not just through your lifestyle and action, but also in word by being reminded of God's sovereignty.. trusting and believing that it's not by my works that people come to Christ, but by God's will and work!
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