5 insights into how God shapes a Life

Read Genesis 37.

Jacob always loved Rachel.  Therefore, the boys to whom she gave birth were treated with special care and concern above the other half-brothers.  Joseph was even given a special robe by his father to indicate this.  No wonder in this patriarchal culture that jealousy and even hatred developed among the siblings.

Joseph's own immaturity and misuse of what God gave him brought the hatred to a head.  God gave him dreams of his future.  Surely, he did not understand its full implications, but, his brothers and his father did and they resented it.  This good thing from the LORD was received as the pride-filled statements of a youth.  The brothers had had enough.  As an alternative to killing Joseph, they sold him as a slave to Egypt. The rest of the story of Genesis now begins to unfold and centers on what happened to Joseph.

God is not going to change His mind, nor His plans for Joseph's life.  However, He is going to change Joseph.  It is through those times of brokenness and suffering that Joseph's character will be shaped and he will learn humility.  Only then will he be ready as a usable vessel for what God has in mind to change and develop at least two nations, as well as world history.

Joseph must have asked a thousand times, "Why did God give me those dreams?  Why could not I have resolved my maturity and character issues where I was?  How long must I endure mistreatment and such injustice?  Where is God when I need Him?"

In Isaiah 64:8, the prophet described God as a potter and we as His clay. 

1. The clay belongs to the potter.  He can do what he wants with his own property.

2. The shape, design, and future of the molded clay are the plans of the potter.

3. The timing of the work on the clay is the decision of the potter.

4. The place where the vessel will be and be used is at the discretion of the potter.

5. The admiration for the finished product by others goes to the potter, never to the clay.

The take away is that we are in good hands as the Potter shapes us and uses us for His glory.  That is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)