Today’s section is a the latter part of the Joseph story. This is after the brothers show up, find out who he is and have much gnashing of teeth and adjusting of sackcloth (not at the tearing of sackcloth yet) in hopes that Joseph won’t pull out a bazooka and blow them all to smithereens. Which begs the question of what each of us would do in the sandals of Joe? Would you draw and quarter? Or would you kill with kindness?

Never mind that bazooka’s were clearly not invented yet (it is a nice visual though) or that Joe was raised by a good man and nefariously inclined brothers. Or that according to some sources Joe was seriously Emo. Like cried and wept all the dang time. Perhaps this is why Potiphar’s wife was hot to trot for Joseph. Never mind the painful and terrible life that Joseph had lived since his brother’s sold him off.  Because at the moment that it mattered none of these things that could have led him down a dark path…did.

Joe made the call that God would have at that moment. A overwhelming overdose of mercy and forgiveness. Never mind that there’s a good chance the brothers made up the story of what his father told him before kicking the etherealic bucket. He still forgave them despite it all.

Even better was that this was the plan God intended. Why would God have done this? You could say this was the “old testament” God that tended to be full of vinegar, fire and brimstone but that doesn’t quite hold water either. I think the answer falls back to what I’ve said before on this subject.

God is good. All the time. That’s a verifiable fact. Billy Mays is probably in heaven recording late night commercials to preach just that line. The flip side of that wonderful coin is that God isn’t safe. He’s never claimed to be the safe cuddly teddy bear that some people seem to be content in labeling. He’s like a crazed MacGyver. Sure he ends up at the end of the mission in one piece and with a spare rubber band just in case. But he sure as hell goes through…hell to get there.

And that’s what stuck with me in this story. Joseph went through hell and back again to get where he was when his idiot (and I mean that in the nicest way) brothers showed up begging for food due to shortage in their own land. And it was God’s intended plan.

Which makes me (and it should make you) wonder…what does God “intend” for me?

I do know one thing. I’ll be watching my own brother very closely.

God allowed Jacob to flex his humanity but then quickly gave him a back of the head slap to remind him that yes indeed God is still God in these Old Testament parts. The part of this verse and the accompanying materials that caught my eye was where it talks about sitting quietly before God and taking in the wild atmosphere. As New Age-ey as that sounds (get thee behind me SAATAAN!) focusing on The Lord does take some pretty unique and what some would call eccentric steps.

The entire purpose of when I started doing this devotion thing (and stopped, started and did that dance three times over) was to wrestle with God in a similar fashion. A relationship with God is not about getting it right every day and every way. It’s about exploring where you’re fall short and where you rock the casbah…and then working through all of that with prayer, bible study and even worship. It’s about constantly being under construction and knowing your personal Jesus Scaffolding is going to be up and around your heart, soul, mind and body for just about eternity.

Jacob didn’t appear to know that it was God until the hip touch and name change. Have you ever fallen into a God moment where you stop and realize that indeed you just got hit with some Holy Spirit Spankings? I can claim those moments on a hand or two very clearly. Most of the time wrestling with God results in these moments where you have an “Ah-ha!” experience.

It also lends itself to the question of what we want from God. A sentence in the “pray” section dwells on me praying and telling God what I want. I’m conflicted here because I’ve been raised on the “Want/Need” train and this comes directly back to me in this moment. I’m not sure if God is a God of Need or Want. I know he wants our heart, our prayers and our salvation. But who am I to tell the Lord what I want? Shouldn’t I be asking him for what I need? I need stability in life. I need strength in living in the world. I need to find fellow men in my community to fellowship. I need to find a Godly woman to spend the rest of my life with and to save the world with.

Ok, so that last part is more of a want than a need.

Does this make any sense to anyone out there? Or am I just some crazy Christian slowly losing it on the fringes of religiosity?

I won’t be telling you to convert (THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS!) and I’m not liable to change your life with what I say but I’m here to do my daily devotion and share that with you. And maybe something I tear apart will catch your nose and we’ll have a Happy Holy Happening. Or something. Coming up with quirky names to describe your faith…that’s not how I roll.

So here’s my thoughts from Day 1 – Desire for Reconciliation in “The Message Remix: Solo”.

First off the story of Adam and Eve is everybody’s story. They’re the original sinners and the original family. They didn’t do too well with Cain and Abel either. To be honest the insanity that family must have been went through probably explains the dysfunction we’re all living. When you look at your loony family just remember…at least it’s not like Adam and Eve.

Obviously Eve wouldn’t win a debate contest at your local middle school. She listened to a talking serpent and bobbed her head right along with him to eat the infamous apple and then Adam does the double damnation for us all by taking the next bite.

You can take this and look at your daily offense list of sins. How many times do you run afoul of God’s direction and message? In the case of the original sin we find also how God views us in our transgressions. He knows them. He sees us do them. And yet he asks us to confess. The first confession comes in Genesis and Adam shows us how to dance around the truth. God goes, “ADDDDAAAM! Where the ‘ell are you?!” And Adam throws out the, “I was scarred because I’m naked.” classic excuse. The question is why call us out? Because we are accountable and responsible to Him in confessing our sins. It requires us to man up (or woman up) and be truthful with God about things we’re less than proud of in our day.

It’s a damning verse to examine and turn on yourself…because it speaks pretty loudly to us all.