Joseph’s older brothers had done some things that would qualify them as people whom we wouldn’t put as fathers of a great nation. They sold Joseph into slavery, deceived their father, slept with the wrong women, etc. But they, just as a child of a king or child of a slave, were born into something that was their destiny, to be patriarchs of 9 tribes of the nation chosen by God to be His special possession. It’s not something they’ve earned or deserved, it was theirs regardless. It was their lot. You and I have gotten our lots, and Solomon says it’s best to accept your lot and be happy with what you got.
God has made things as they are for His reasons. Should I be striving to become a king when I am not, or escape ruling a kingdom if I was next in line? I should do what was allotted to me. I will be judged for what and how I did with what was given to me. Not for a position I have achieved, but what I did with the position God gave me, on this earth.
So I’m going to do my portion of work and live my portion of life, but I can do it with a heavy and a complaining heart, always second guessing God’s love and involvement. Always wanting what others have, always striving to get out of my level to the next level and beyond. Or I can be full of life and gratitude and expectation and joy, and long to my final home with God the Father and Christ Jesus. I can do my best with my family and kids and wife and friends and job and city and country and life, and I can spread love and care and holiness and justice and righteous living and God. Or I can spread depression, desolation, hopelessness, loss, and live trapped in the life I have and try to get to where I never can and bring others into the same state of mind.
Jesus died for me, He left the glory and He left Heaven so I can gain a life and life eternal. He left Heaven, but is now sitting at the right hand of the Father, and one day we will inherit God Himself, we will be there too, and our position in society or the level of financial success here on earth will not matter one bit.
So, I will spend time in God’s Word, I will allow His Word to renew my mind, I will allow it to penetrate my being and change me ‘down to the bone’, I will spread life and tell others about the Kingdom that doesn’t perish but brings hope. I will hope, I will love, I will humble myself and walk softly before the Lord, I will ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what it means to Fear the Lord. I will raise kids as a good dad, I will do my best to be a good husband and a good son, I will do my best to be the Gospel at work and home and with friends and in church and wherever God will send me.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!