Exodus 15-17 - The Israelites Begin Their Trek

This one is a bit harder for me today, because I don't want to get into the cliches about the Israelites complaining and how they are ungrateful for everything that's been done for them already... and how we're like the Israelites in our complaining and ungratefulness. I'm sure that's been talked about plenty already.

It's weird, but one thing that caught my eye in this reading is a date: "The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt" (Exodus 16:1).

So, assuming that a month is 30 days, and then add 15, and you get 45 days before Israel gets their first taste of manna. Now if you give or take a few days, one could make a case that they have been in the wilderness for around 40 days when they get hungry. Now, I suppose obviously they had stores of food from before they left Egypt (they did plunder the Egyptians after all); and I highly doubt that the Lord would send them on this journey and expect them to fast right away... but the devotional thought would definitely stay the same regardless. They were in the wilderness for 40 days before being fed by God.

Does this sound familiar at all? Jesus fasted for 40 days while in the wilderness. In fact, he was so hungry that Satan first tempted him with a simple thing such as bread. "Tell this stone to become bread," the devil said (Luke 4:3). "It'll be nice and tasty," he said (Brian's imagination).

But the thing about giving into temptation is that it sets us up to be our own gods. When we give into temptation, it's really us telling God that we know what is best for us and that we should do what is in our best interests, otherwise we will wither away and die... ("but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death" (Exodus 16:3b)).

In doing so, we completely forget that God has actually created us, formed us, and given us life. God knows how this human machine works, and he knows our inmost being (Psalm 139:13). As C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity: "God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way..."

Therefore, I do suppose God is indeed testing his people to see how they react and as we can see, they don't (and continually won't) react well. Christ, on the other hand, knew and practiced that it's through God's words, laws and promises that we do indeed gain abundant life.

Other questions to think about (and that I didn't have time or space to write about):
- Anyone else get an interesting picture in your heads with about 1,000,000 people trying to seek shade under 70 palm trees in the desert? (Exodus 15:27)

- I wonder how creative the Israelites got with their manna... Oooh! That'd make for a great Top Chef challenge - nothing but bread and quail, and maybe a few spices :)

- I'm sorry, but another interesting/funny picture has entered my head: wouldn't it have been an interesting sight to behold that when Moses' hands went up they were winning, and when they went down they were losing? (Exodus 17:8-16) It just sounds very Jack Benny-esque, doesn't it? :)

Exodus 11-15 - God Delivers His People

So for this post, I'm doing something a bit different. I had the pleasure of giving the message at our inaugural Wednesday night service here at Grace. Our readings were Exodus 6:2-8; 12:1-7, 11-14 | Romans 6:15-23 | Luke 22:14-20. Obviously, the theme of Passover certainly stood out. So instead of my more academic thoughts today, here's my message:

Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, be with us this night as we are gathered together to listen to your Word. May you bless the words that I am about to say; that they may shine your light so that it be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. In your name we pray, Amen.

"Why is this night different from all other nights?"

Well, first of all, because it is our first Wednesday night service we have had at Grace other than Advent or Lenten services. [pause] 

"Why is this night different from all other nights?"

In preparing for my message tonight, I came across this question which is spoken at any Passover dinner by the youngest child who is able to talk. We will get to the answer in a little bit, but as with any good retelling of a historical tale, we need to go back and set the stage.

Last week, we left off in The Story seeing that God indeed provides for his people. God had provided for Joseph even when he was left for dead by not only his brothers, but also by Potiphar after false allegations. God had provided for the Egyptians as he raised up Joseph to be a strong and wise leader in the famine that lasted seven years. God also provided for the family of Jacob, as they traveled to Egypt to eat of their available stores of food.

Now let’s fast-forward about 400 years. The picture is not so rosy – the evidence of God’s providence has now become a foreign concept in the minds of men. As the Israelites numbers increase, their reliance on God has decreased. As the memory of the true God faded from Pharaoh’s mind, he set himself to be lord among men as he subdued the Israelites into slavery for his pet building projects, if not just outright ordering killings of the baby boys born to Hebrew mothers.

We get a picture of the harsh conditions that the Israelites worked under as they became slaves under Pharaoh [read bottom paragraph page 43, Exodus 1:11-14].

Yikes. Yet, we are familiar and can resonate with this picture of slavery all the time, can’t we. 

From our history books and our early childhood education, we are well-aware of a dark time in our country’s not-too-distant past where this practice was legally accepted; and the consequences of this abominable practice are still being felt today 150 years even after its physical and legal ban. 

However, even with the explicit prohibition of slavery, such practices are characteristic to our culture today. We are tireless laborers in pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. We are captives to our competitive dog-eat-dog world where either we come out on top or we are consumed. We are servants to our cultural ideals that perfect children only come from perfect parents or perfect families. And that is only to name a few of an ever-increasing number of ways in which we are indeed, as Paul calls us, "slaves to sin."

As we go about our lives in the fog and haze of slavery, we cry and groan for a way out – for hope – for a light at the end of the tunnel – just as the Israelites did. We continually ask: "Why is this night no different from all other nights that we are facing?"

Yet, as he has done before, God provides for his people.

For the Israelites, God raised up a leader to deliver his people; yet, the one he raised up was not a leader you would expect. This leader considered himself slow in speech; he had a checkered history in Egypt; and he had a tendency to let his emotions and passion override rational thought. And we all know him now as one of the greatest men in world history: Moses.

God worked through Moses to give Pharaoh a chance to repent; an offer that Pharaoh flatly refused again and again. God worked through Moses to bring forth consequences of that unrepentance in the form of gnats, frogs and flies (and that was just for starters). And God worked through Moses as a mouthpiece for what God was about to do: his ultimate judgment – indiscriminate death. For at the stroke of midnight, he would strike down the firstborn of animal and of human, Egyptian or Israelite.

But God ultimately worked through Moses as a vessel for salvation; for it was through Moses that God declared how he would free his people, Israel. For God sent Moses to tell his people that they are to take a spotless lamb, sacrifice it for their family (and others if those around could not afford it), and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts [make up-down sign with my hands] and the mantle [make left-right sign with my hands] of their doorways. Once they did so, they were impervious to the upcoming agent of death.

"Why is this night different from all other nights?" – Because on this night, God has delivered his people from certain death and through Pharaoh’s decree (though one he would quickly regret), they became free citizens and were able to leave Egypt once and for all.

For us here and now, God has raised up a leader to deliver his people; yet, the one he raised up was not a leader you would expect. This leader was born, grew up and lived in humble means; he has a checkered history with those in power; and he had a tendency to live his life as quite the contrarian to the prevailing culture. And we all know him now as the greatest man in world history: Jesus.

Jesus has told us time and time again to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand; an offer that we flatly refuse again and again. Because we refuse to repent, we reap the consequences of that unrepentance in the form of sin, death and eternal separation from God (and that’s just for starters). And we hear Jesus’ words of what God’s ultimate judgment is – indiscriminate death – for those who have fallen short of complete repentance – and that is all of us.

But Jesus is our ultimate vessel of salvation; for it is through him that God declares how he has freed his people, how he has freed those who believe the promise. For Jesus is our spotless lamb, sacrificed for us and for those around us. It was his body that was broken for us; and it is his blood that is shed for us [make sign of the cross] on the cross that covers our family and household. And now, we are impervious to the agent of death – the Evil One and his armies.

"Why is this morning different from all other mornings?" – Because on this morning, God has saved his people from certain death through Christ’s resurrection, and his defeat of death and the grave; and through Christ’s decree, we are now free citizens of the kingdom of heaven and have left the worldly dominion of the Evil One once and for all!

Yet..... We’re still slaves.

We are no longer slaves to the consequences of our sin; we are no longer slaves to these things of the world; we are no longer slaves to the ways that bring us death. Thanks be to God, we are slaves to righteousness! 

Instead of being beholden to what was, we are to behold what is to come! Instead of the Old Adam in us living in despair, the New Adam in us is to live with joy and cheer! Instead of suffering consequences of past sins, we are to be excited about the opportunities that are in front of us! 

For as the Lord called the Israelites out of the waters of the Red Sea, with the waters crashing down all around Pharaoh and his armies, to become a holy nation; so Christ calls us out to become a holy nation through the waters of Holy Baptism, with the water drowning the Evil One and all of our foes. A new day is dawning.

"Why is this day different from all other days?"

Because through your Baptism, our Heavenly Father has graciously called you out of slavery; equipped you with Christ’s love, mercy and forgiveness; and given you his Holy Spirit of grace and truth so that you can "proclaim good news to the poor; proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind; to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

Amen.

Exodus 5-10 - God and Pharaoh

Who's ready for some serious theological wrestling today? Me neither, but I couldn't really get past the following verse and not do some study on it:

"The Lord said to Moses, 'When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go'" (Exodus 4:21).

Anyone else have a problem with that verse? This verse (and a tough passage in Romans 9 that very much corresponds to this idea) raises so many theological red flags that I'm not sure where to start. If God has given us free will, can he just toy with a man's emotions like that? And then if God does indeed tinker with emotions does that make him a mastermind behind every act that results from this tinkering? And if this tinkering results in the downfall of this man, would that not make God evil? Or even alternatively, if God's tinkering with this one man results in the glorification of God among a million others, is that justified? Wouldn't God be playing favorites?

The first view as to why God hardened Pharaoh's heart is that God used Pharaoh so that plagues could be brought which would display to everyone, without a shadow of the doubt, who is in control. I could indeed see some validity to this view. After all, remember that the Israelites have now been in Egypt and their foreign gods for 400 years now. They have also become slaves in Pharaoh's eyes, just plain laborers for his pet building projects. There is clearly no evidence of God's work around them and so they would need some.

I'm a Trekkie, and so I get the idea of the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." But this only seems to hold water when the few or the one have a say in the matter, especially if it means their destruction as it did for Spock, who was and ever shall be Kirk's friend. *sigh and sniff :)* In our Biblical story, this "glorification" comes clearly at the expense of others and even creation itself (plagues on livestock, hail smashing crops...) who have no say in the matter.

God has instilled in us a need for relationship and also a value of human life such that even if we saw someone in danger, our God-given instincts would kick in and many of us likely would try to rescue them and save them from harm. So for God to harden Pharaoh's heart for the glorification among his people just seems to really fly in the face of what we know God to be like (since he did give us our conscience and instincts after all), does it not?

The second problem with this view, in my opinion, is that God is sending this man to his ruination just for the glorification of "his chosen people." From our human experience, we know and see favoritism from a very young age (he got more frosting than I did!!), and we have a sense of what's fair and just, again due to our God-given consciences. Destroying one man for a whole people does not seem right, fair or just.

Both of these views lead to my immediate conclusion that this, my friends, is double predestination. God saves those who he wants, and condemns who he wants, and it's set in stone. Eek!

Which brings me to the second view, which brings an element of human choice into it. This would state that we indeed got a preview of what would happen as God said he would harden Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21, 7:14, 7:22). However, as you read further into the story, one would find that it is actually Pharaoh who hardens his heart first (Exodus 8:15, 8:32, 9:34) and it eventually got to a breaking point beyond saving; and thus into the category of receiving consequences in further hardening from God (Exodus 9:12, 10:20, 10:27).

Does this view not conform to more of our human understanding and experience? Most of us can think of an example of someone who has gone done a dark path. Throughout this path, there seems to be at least a glimmer of hope and redemption. We try to step in to save this person for God wants no person to be lost (1 Timothy 2:4). We also intervene because we love this person and rightfully fear what will happen if they continue down this journey. Yet, they have a choice to continue down this path, and unfortunately, many do. And once they do, there is no choice but to let natural law and natural consequences take their toll: their hearts become harder, they become more isolated, and they are beyond redemption as sad as that is to say.

In this view, God is not some cosmic captain of a heavenly team where if you're not picked to be on the team, you're a loser damned to hell. Instead, God has indeed chosen all of us to be on his team and we can certainly play whole-heartedly for him... or we choose to reject to be under his care and protection. Once we choose that way, God can still care for us and love us like any coach would; but our consequences are beyond his control for we have chosen our way and not God's way.

Now don't get me wrong; God can and still will use these dire circumstances (natural and fallen as they are) to bring good. God used Joseph's brothers' misdeeds to save Egypt. God used Pharaoh's hardened heart to bring glory to the Israelites. The Story Spoiler Alert: God used the conquest aspirations of the Assyrians and Babylonians to discipline the Israelites and bring them to repentance; and God used the avarice and greed of the Pharisees to achieve his ultimate plan of salvation for us.

This view then is unconditional election. God chooses us all, but we can choose to reject him; but even in that rejection, God will use that rejection and bring good out of it.

And that, my friends, is pure gospel! :)

Exodus 1-4 - God's Name

I was torn between my two ideas for this journal entry, but instead of going with a post applicable to the hardships of the Israelites based around this blog post that I saw a few days back on Facebook, I'm going with what I had originally intended to write.

For a very long time, I have been fascinated with names. What do they mean? Are they significant? Why are they named that way? Interestingly enough, I'm not a genealogy fan, but I do love etymology (and the spelling that comes from all those awesome roots). So when God gives His name to Moses when calling him into service, that's where my investigation headed.

First of all, his name is rendered differently throughout various translations of the Bible:

I am who I am - NIV & ESV
I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE - Amplified Bible
I AM THAT I AM - KJV
... and the footnote from the Contemporary English Version: The Hebrew text has “Yahweh,” which is usually translated “Lord” in the CEV. Since it seems related to the word translated “I am,” it may mean “I am the one who is” or “I will be what I will be” or “I am the one who brings into being.”

When we think of names, we think of nouns... of specific people in specific times, places, and spaces. Isn't it interesting then that God, in speaking to Moses, chose to name himself as a verb? By naming himself as a verb, in one broad stroke, God is instructing us that he automatically transcends time and space; God is not bound to the confines of a god like Baal, Zeus or Shiva. God has given us a name that is absolutely limitless.

Now, when we take the I AM and translate it into Hebrew, one would expect to find that it would translate to the tetragrammaton, aka the letters that make up God's name, right. Yet, interestingly, it doesn't. Instead of translating to יהוה (yehôvâh), it translates to הָיָה (hâyâh). Now, the definition of hâyâh does indeed mean 'I am', but there's an interesting twist when one also looks at the words that this is related to.

Hâyâh is closely related to the words hâvâh and âvâh. Are you with me so far? :) Now the definition of hâvâh is indeed "to be, become, exist, happen." But the definition of âvâh is "desire, incline, covet, wait longingly, wish, sigh, want, be greedy, prefer."

Now when I was originally going to post this, I was about ready to say that a root for God's very name comes from the Hebrew word for "desire." But, to be more precise, according to the Interlinear Bible, those two words are only related to one another. Even so, the devotional thought is still quite evident:

In giving God's name as he did to Moses, there is at least a hint or an allusion to desire and even a longing, waiting and wanting.

But what does God want? What in the world could he desire? Recall what we read in Genesis: "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). God created our human race because he desired a relationship with something that was other than himself. He wants you, he wants me; he wants our neighbors; he wants our enemies; he wants everyone! Indeed, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ" (Ephesians 1:7-10).

Other questions to think about (and that I didn't have time or space to write about):
- Wow Pharaoh is slow, isn't he? Whenever he keeps tasking the Israelites more, God blesses his people more and makes them multiply even quicker and become more defiant. Lesson to be learned here about earthly governments perhaps?

- Do you wonder what the Bible would be like if it was more standardized? The reason I ask is that I found that God called to Moses from the mountain of Horeb (Exodus 3:1). So what? Well, that mountain is also known as Mt. Sinai, which we'll be hearing about very soon. Imagine if our people knew that; so many more connections can be formed within our minds! --- Indeed, check out v. 12: "And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'" We would catch that verse much easier if Horeb was indeed called Sinai here :).

Genesis 47-50 - Jacob's and Joseph's Stories End

At first when I was going to write this post; I was thinking of doing a "quick hitter" post that covered a few topics but nothing in depth. But the last few days have really stressed something really important to me that I feel like I need to share.

As I read this passage of Genesis, especially the end of chapters 47 and 49, I couldn't help but be struck at Jacob's insistence that he be buried with his father and grandfather back in the land of Canaan. I don't know about you, but if I had my wish, I really wouldn't care where my kids buried me because my soul is already long gone and awaiting the resurrection. I wouldn't want my children to go through extra trials and problems just so I could be buried somewhere. Yet, Jacob asks his children to travel days, if not weeks, so that he could be buried with his parents.

But as I thought about it, the concept of what the Celts call 'thin spaces' came into my head, and for the last few days I have not been able to shake that concept and in fact it has intensified. What are 'thin spaces'? One of my favorite authors, N.T. Wright puts describes these spaces in his book, Surprised by Hope, as "places where the curtain between heaven and earth seems almost transparent" (p. 259). They are places where you can sense God's presence around you, places where you can see God working, and spaces where you can hear God whisper to you in a still, small voice.

So, for Jacob, one of those 'thin spaces' must be where his family lived; which makes sense because Jacob did love his family. There they loved him, raised him, and taught him how to live. Not only that, but that his where one of his wives was buried too. So it makes sense that this graveyard is a thin space for Jacob (and really, a graveyard is often a thin space for many people as it's ground zero for meeting our mortality face-to-face and trusting in the promise of the resurrection).

Where is a 'thin space' for you? For me, I am in one right now. I'm at a KINDLE conference in an absolutely beautiful setting in Mundelein, Illinois. Other than the accessibility issues I'm encountering, this is an extremely thin space. There is something magical about hearing the church bells (whether recorded or real, we can't tell and even some of the sem students don't know!) chime every 15 minutes. There is something rejuvenating about the slow pace that the people in this place live to. There is a character to these buildings and the stories that are bursting from these walls. There is something timeless to the statues and the architecture which adorn this place.

And there is just this neat feeling welling up within me that is re-creation-al as I reconnect with friends. I love the bonds that are being re-forged as we share our joys and or frustrations with this little thing called 'ministry'. And it's a neat feeling to feel my heart being re-tuned to God's frequency once again.

It's places, and times, and people, and things like this that are truly indicators that God's realm is breaking into ours on a continual basis; and it's my prayer that we all see this work that God is bringing into this fallen world.

Other questions to think about (and that I didn't have time or space to write about):
- I thought I wanted to know what the phrase "put your hand on my thigh" meant... but after reading this article, I wish I hadn't :P

- Anyone else think it was really interesting how when Jacob brought Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 48) to be blessed by his grandfather that Joseph told his dad that he had made a mistake in blessing the younger one first just as Jacob himself had been earlier?

- I also find it interesting that Jesus didn't come of the tribe of the firstborn of Jacob (Reuben). He instead came from Judah, which was actually the first one mentioned in his blessing that hadn't committed a fairly heinous crime.

- Bonus fact of Jesus coming from Judah's line; the name 'Judah' comes from the Hebrew word (yâdâh) which is used in this verse: "He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task" (Leviticus 16:21). Sound remotely like anything Jesus had done? :)

- Anyone else find the end of chapter 50 rather ominous? Joseph asked his countrymen to "I am about to die...carry my bones up from this place" (Genesis 50:24-25). And yet, what happens to him? He is buried in a coffin in Egypt (Genesis 50:26). Can we see the first seeds of Israel rebellion and hard-heartedness already? Or am I overthinking it?

Genesis 42-46 - Joseph Reunites With His Brothers

Ready for another lesson about names? Today we'll be talking about Joseph, which means "Jehovah has added," or in a more general sense (the word in which Joseph is derived from (yâsaph)), "again." How appropriate is this name for Joseph? Well, let's see...
**Just as a quick note; the italics in the following instances are for emphasis only and not the original word or text.

He told his brothers not just once that he was going to rule over them (Genesis 37:5-8), but he does so, however inadvisably, again a little later (Genesis 37:9-12).

Again and again, Potipher's wife would make a pass at Joseph only to be rebuked, until of course she hatched the devious plan to grab his cloak and make false accusations against him. In doing so, Potipher of course believed his wife; and again it seemed as though Joseph's life would end in a deep pit of despair (Genesis 39).

However, again, God brought him up from the pits of despair and brought him into a position of power and prestige (Genesis 41).

As the brothers turn to Egypt to buy food, Jacob again favors one son and leaves him behind (Genesis 42:1-5). Just as they left Joseph in captivity to be left to the whims of those around him, so again they leave another one of their own behind, Simeon, to be left to the whims of those around him (Genesis 42:12-25). They then returned home to again tell of a brother's ruination (Genesis 42:29-38).

Again, Joseph tests his brothers to see if they've learned their lesson in compassion and repentance by making sure that Benjamin stays put in Egypt while telling the others to go tell Jacob of another son's demise (Genesis 43-44:17). Thankfully, they seem to pass this test (Genesis 44:18-34).

And here is where the cycle breaks. In a 'reveal' to rival any detective solving a crime or shocking twist at the end of a movie, Joseph tells his brothers who he is. Needless to say, they're shocked beyond belief and could very well be afraid for their lives considering the shift in power from their days of youth to now. And instead of fear and trembling, they go back home with great joy to tell their father that Joseph is indeed alive (Genesis 45-46).

With that in mind, can you identify with these cycles? How often are stuck in a never-ending cycle that brings us nothing but trouble? Do you continually work to the bone to 'provide for your family,' when what your family needs most is you and your time? Do you find yourself saying you will stick to a budget only to once again find you have overspent and need help covering the bills? Do you have a sin that you continue to commit even with all the intentions of breaking that sinful cycle? Sin is something we commit again and again and again with no hope of breaking out of by ourselves.

Yet, much like Joseph reassures his brothers and tells them, "Come near to me, please...do not be distressed or angry with yourselves...you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have...now your eyes see that it is my mouth that speaks to you" (Genesis 45:4-5, 10, 12)...

So our heavenly father is gracious and welcomes us back through his son, Jesus Christ! He, much more graciously than Joseph even could utter, reassures us and says "Come near to me, please...do not be distressed or angry with yourselves...you shall be near me."

Genesis 37, 39, 41 - God Prospers Joseph

During our Jr. High Youth Gathering last weekend, one of the sectionals talked quite a bit about Joseph and this passage in particular. Our presenters made the case that even though Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, God had a plan for him (which was nearly derailed by Potipher's wife and this led to the real topic of the sectional on sexual purity), and that God has plans for you too. What's the well-known verse? God has plans to "to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). Other than the fact that this verse is taken out of context 99% of the time (it's talking to the Israelites in exile and God reaffirming his promise to them to bring them back... not the average joe looking for direction on which house to buy), the idea of prospering has bugged me for the last number of years.

Now that I'm done passive-aggressively ranting in the opening paragraph... I did some digging, and it's been neat to kinda see these words and how they do not mean what they think they mean.

Let's look at our two sentences with the English word, 'prosper' in them:

"The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did" (Genesis 39:2-3).

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (Jeremiah 29:11).

First, let's think of what our English word 'prosper' means.
- FreeDictionary says: "to be fortunate or successful, especially in terms of one's finances; thrive."
- Merriam-Webster says: "to become very successful usually by making a lot of money."
- And the Google definition: "succeed in material terms; be financially successful."

Do you see a common theme? In English, 'to prosper' is to be well-off financially first, and then perhaps some other good things such as a family, kids, etc afterwards. This has totally wrenched the meaning away from our texts!

Looking at our Jeremiah text first, the Hebrew word (that our translators horribly mis-translate here in my opinion), is shâlôm, which means so much more. Shâlôm is the Hebrew word for completeness; to be completely at peace; to be in harmony with the world and with each other. It's so complete, no one can really describe it. So what God says to the Israelite people is not that they will prosper materially, but that they will know the full peace of God when he restores them back to their homeland.

Now with that common misperception out of the way, let's focus on how Joseph prospered. The Hebrew word that is used here for Joseph is tsâlach, which in and of itself could certainly be defined like that (Strong's says: "to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable"). But the kicker here along with the word is not so much the definition itself, it's how it is used throughout the whole Old Testament. Doing a quick concordance search with Strong's reveals two really neat things:

The first nugget is that the Lord does all the prospering of us; we do nothing. A vast majority of time that this word tsâlach is used, God is involved in either prospering the individual or in the fact that because they did not seek the Lord's direction, their plans did not prosper.

The second nugget is that nowhere is there a conjunction or a joining of the word tsâlach the idea of material wealth or belongings. If you had to catalog the times where tsâlach was used, three seem to pop out: the Lord prospers a journey; the Lord prospers actions; and the Lord actively using human beings to accomplish his will ("The Spirit of the Lord came upon him" is a popular wording of this in Judges and 1 Samuel).

So, what does it mean to prosper? I think it does not mean to Joel Osteen and his ilk what they think it means. Prospering in God's grace does not mean that because of our faith in God will be rewarded in material wealth, belongings, social status or power. And honestly, one could easily paint this picture from the story of Joseph that we've read.

To prosper in God means to be so in-tune with him that we think his thoughts and not ours; to prosper in God is to be tested and to wrestle with him; to prosper in God is to realize that God's kingdom does not mean what we think it means (Matthew 5).

Other questions to think about (and that I didn't have time or space to write about):
- As I got to Joseph telling Pharaoh about the 7 years of feast and 7 years of famine... I thought about what in the world that would look like today! In our world, we can hardly plan 7 months ahead, much less 7 years. Can you imagine what would happen in year 4 of this 14-year plan in today's world? We would discount the fact that 7 more lean years were coming and use up all of our stores just because we could. An interesting parallel might be with global warming. We know it's here; we have a good idea what's coming; but because it's 20 years out (a milli-nano-micro-second in cosmic time), we don't want to plan for it. Or... the asteroid Apophis in 2036 and how to deflect it.