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Stumbling Block Or Stepping Stone; Turning Your Enemies Into Your Footstool

by Shannon Heiden  
12/17/2008 / Devotionals

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. Genesis 45:4-5

Enemies, we all at some point or another have encountered them. Do you currently have an enemy? If you do, why are they considered your enemy? If you don't, just keep living surely one will pop up somewhere. Are you someone else's enemy? What creates an enemy? Is it a hostile disagreement? An unprovoked jealousy? A provoked one? A misunderstanding turned sour? Can it be possible that there are enemies out there for no other reason than they just are?

Joseph was a young boy when he discovered that his enemies were that of his own household. The bible says that Joseph was his fathers favorite son, no doubt we all can relate to either being someone's favorite or not. For Josephs eleven brothers, seeing the favoritism their father showed to the second to the youngest enraged them with envy, to make matters worse, Joseph had been given a gift of dreams and visions from the Lord, no doubt parading around in his coat of many colors and prophesying to them that they would all one day bow down to him made matters a lot worse!

The jealousy the brothers felt for Joseph was so intense that they plotted to kill him. I have experienced envy in my time, but thankfully not to the point of wishing and partaking in killing someone. What would cause their jealousy to grow to this point? If it had not been for a wise brother who stepped in, no doubt the Lord ordering this with his sovereignty unbeknownst to them or Joseph, they decide to throw Joe in a pit and sell him, and they did so.

Now anytime your brothers, I mean blood brothers lie on you it is a hurtful thing, but this wasn't just a lie about a job, or some little thing, they said he was dead, they sat and ate lunch while he was crying in the pit, can you imagine the horror this little guy must have felt?

What do you do when the greatest pain you have ever felt is given to you by a loved one? Someone who is supposed to have your back, not stab it. Someone who you have married, or raised, someone who you grew up with, someone who you have broken bread with, someone you have worked side by side with day after day, someone who you went to the house of God with? Someone you have known for the better part of your life suddenly turns on you and unleashes evil?

What do you do?

This is a great dilemma that all of us will have to confront at one point in our lives. If you have lived long enough you quickly realize not everyone will like you, some may have good reasons, others may have none at all, and the truth is we live in a fallen and sinful world where sometimes evil prevails for a moment.

But the bible says that when Joseph was sold as a slave, the Lord was with him, when he got sold to Potiphor, the Lord was with him, when he was accused of wrong and put in prison for years, the bible says the Lord was with him, and in one day the tables turned and a convict became a ruler of Egypt.
In one day, God took a slave in prison and made him ruler over all of Pharaohs house, second only to the King himself.

What is so interesting and what gives me the greatest hope for my own journey, is that the Lord prepared that place for Joseph, and the minute, the second his brothers laid their hands on him and threw him in a pit to be sold, that was the first step for Joseph into his calling,the first step towards his predestined predetermined position!

What do you do when someone hurts you, cheats you, lies on you, hates you?
You cry out to the Lord and you recognize that He is with you wherever you go,you understand that nothing has happened in your life without purpose. God will never let anyone fight you, that He ultimately wont use to bless you further down the road.

Often God's servants are your enemies, they are serving God's purpose in your life to usher you into a greater dimension and if they are rubbing against you, don't fight it, seek the Lord as to what He is accomplishing, maybe He is toughening you up in areas, thicker skin, or maybe He is refining you and humbling you in the areas that hinder you, either way, He wouldn't allow it if He didn't have a purpose in it.

"For we know that all things work together for the good of those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

There is no pain like the pain in your own house, and be sure the enemy knows where your heart is, but the next time you are faced with being wounded by a brother, remember Joseph, remember God has a plan even when it looks hopeless, God really did anoint Joseph with a gift, the gift never left him and neither did God and ultimately the boy grew into a man and was able to say, "you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."

Your enemies, are they your stumbling block or God's stepping stone to usher you into the greatness that awaits you?

Shannon Heiden
[email protected]
changingonelifereachingmany.typepad.com

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