It's peace week here in the Advent* world, so it's only fitting that the Five Minute Friday prompt would be "Beyond." This week many believers have studied peace beyond understanding (Philippians 4:7). It's a hard concept for many, myself included. I often think that God's peace is for my benefit. In part, of course, it is. God loves His children and does not want us to be troubled (John 14:27), but God's peace is not like the world's peace.
In the story of Joseph, the peace given to him - through enslavement, imprisonment, and ultimately success - was not so that he had a fat resume or felt good about himself when he laid his head down at night. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph reveals what he himself could only have learned from God: His difficulties and his successes were intended by God to save many lives. Knowing that must have allowed Joseph peace.
If we, like Joseph, know that God intends good for us - even when others mean harm - we too can experience His peace.
This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.
*You can read my 2020 Advent reflections by starting with this post here: 33 DAYS AND COUNTING.
This post is a prompt from Five Minute Friday and was written in approximately five minutes. For more information, visit fiveminutefriday.com.
*You can read my 2020 Advent reflections by starting with this post here: 33 DAYS AND COUNTING.
Isn't it crazy that Joseph found peace in such horrid circumstances? O! Help my unbelief, Lord! #13 FMF
ReplyDeleteJoseph is one of my favourite Bible characters, and it definitely brings me peace to know that God can work good even through what was meant for evil.
ReplyDeleteI guess there is a kind of peace
ReplyDeletein these hardest of my days,
but for it I must fain release
my striving for His ways,
and only then can I achieve
that which He means for me,
and thus, decision to believe
shall gain the victory.
The triumph may not be of Earth,
for death must come to all,
but through the second Adam's birth,
whose death revoked the Fall,
and in Whose strong and tender Arms
is found the Peace beyond all harms.
hmm... you made me stop to ponder just how much grain there was that it could no longer be counted. The storehouses must have been full and overflowing. They must have thought they had more than enough to carry them through whatever troubles would hit them in the next seven years.
ReplyDelete"The peace given to him - through enslavement, imprisonment, and ultimately success..." - it's mind-boggling that Joseph found peace through these circumstances. Truly, God's peace is beyond understanding.
ReplyDelete"...but God's peace is not like the world's peace."
ReplyDeleteYes! He gives us a peace that passes all understanding. There have been so many times in my life that I have felt this peace and there truly is no explaining it.
Love,
Annie FMF#20
There have been times in my life when I could not fathom the peace or the joy I felt in the middle of difficulties. It is all beyond my understanding but one thing I have always understood - it is because of Him! Blessings!
ReplyDelete