Favored, Tested, Rewarded (Poem, Part 1)

Lessons Learned 

See the series here

Joseph, a fruitful bough by a well...

(Genesis 49:22)

‘A fruitful bough, growing by a well.’ ¹

An incredible story to tell.

The life of Joseph, to us all so awe inspiring:

Grace that to him under pressure was transpiring.

A true story to us from the ages,

Whose plot still unfolds on our life’s stages.

Whether to God you may be friend or foe,

From this life, some things you will learn and know!

Just as coins have a two-sided display,

Lessons from Joseph two sides still convey.

Lessons learned reflect well as …lives atoned.

Lessons denied are simply …those postponed!

Joseph, tried and steeled in life’s furnace of affliction,

Then molded in what we’d call a life of abandon.

Though destined for leadership as ‘deputy king’,

He endured that which only tough grooming would bring.

So let’s ponder what he needed to learn,

Then see what in your life, you may discern,

From a lad without schooling or pedigree,

Who in God’s purview, was ‘wilderness worthy’. ²

To be groomed for kingship, he would need time to learn:

The Egyptian’s language, and their culture discern,

To eat and survive on their different diet,

In their lives to blend, yet his culture not forfeit.

He had to learn grace and growth under great pressure,

Humility as God made all his work prosper,

Obedience, first as a slave, then a prisoner,

And the skills of a manager and supervisor.

Add learning to manage resources with integrity,

And how to exercise, yet submit to authority,

To retain Godly character in morality,

And to experience awful pangs of poverty.

He had to learn to shun spirits of unforgiveness,

Of retaliation/vengeance and deep bitterness,

Of boastfulness and pride, as he was thrice promoted,

And without hope in a strange land, to stay devoted.

Hold on! There are lessons he yet had to learn,

Those most crucial in his wilderness sojourn:

To retain and grow fearful respect of God, awesome,

And in all of life, to perceive His Hand. That’s wisdom!

He had to learn to not forfeit his two early dreams,

His interest in perceiving from them insightful streams,

Then, in strong faith, to speak what he perceived,

Whether or not listeners who heard believed.

While we can withstand the wilderness for short seasons,

What to do when days become weeks, months, years …unbroken?

Continual pressures may well have a focus that’s double:

Pressing out the un-useful, making room for the re-source-full. ³

Imagine if Joseph hadn’t passed one of his chain-linked tests! ⁴

In no annals of history would his sad story rest.

Thank The Lord this was not the case.

Now his story can’t be erased!

Heads up! Much of life is our wilderness equivalent,

If/as we live by Grace in God’s Kingdom enlightenment.

So on Joseph’s life and lessons, let’s freshly meditate,

And perceive what in our lives we need to recalibrate.

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¹ See: Genesis 49:22

² Those whom God uses mightily typically have some kind of wilderness experience(s), whether literally or figuratively, dedicated time and space away from worldly cultural influences, to be purged, renewed, strategically re-directed, and empowered.

³ Fresh re-supplying of any/all requisite inner resources, often for God’s continued and/or higher use(s).

⁴ In fashioning and/or allowing tests, God is highly strategic. (See: Jeremiah 17:10)