Deliverance

Dear Christa—

From Genesis to Now: Deliverance

I love happy endings, especially when they come after hardship. Now, with the fact that Joseph is still alive and well, the brothers must have admitted all to their father. The dreams had come true—far from the way they could have ever anticipated—but true just the same.  And, they are relieved they had—in the midst of this famine.

When we only have a glimpse of our future, it is so often difficult to see beyond the sliver that’s revealed. It’s easy to only see the negative. We interpret it only in the context of the present. It can be fearful. It can be frustrating. It can be anything but what we want.

We can only see a short distance into our futures, not 20 years, for 20 years bring things we’d never imagine, some good, some bad.

I imagine old Jacob waiting at home and fearing for his sons. Little could he see the great deliverance Joseph would bring to him. Sometimes, the bad—all the darkness—can open up into a glorious end of love, renewing, and joy. As with Jacob, Joseph, and these brothers, joy can come through loss, guilt, shame, then recognizing and trusting in God.

Sometimes deliverance comes only at the end of this dark and fallen world when peace and rest are found in Heaven, enfolded into the love of God. But, sometimes deliverance comes in the here and now. It can come unforeseen, without expectation. And, as C. S. Lewis stated, we can be “Surprised by Joy.”

Looking for surprises today—

—the parishioner who doesn’t do anything