Live Free with Josh Howerton - Bloom Where You’re Planted | Ep. 118 | Wednesday July 19, 2023

Episode Date: July 19, 2023

The story of Joseph teaches us that even when we are in difficult situations, we can still choose to work hard with excellence and a great attitude. We can trust that God has a plan for our lives and will use even difficult situations to bring about good. So, if you're feeling lost and unsure about your purpose in life, take heart. God has a plan for your life, and He will use even the difficult situations to bring about good. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Episode 8, God's Ways. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast where we have been learning about discovering and living

in God's plan, God's will for our life. We've been learning that God's, he really does want to be our GPS. He wants to be our Ways app. He really wants to lead us to the right places. But his main goal is to shape you and me into the right kind of people. And we're walking through a story that illustrates all of this. It's the story of a young guy named Joseph, who is like a high school senior,

who goes from being the golden child of his family, to working as a slave in the home of an Egyptian secret service agent named Potipher. And we left off yesterday by seeing that even though Joseph was far from home and the dream that God had given him about his future was far from his current reality, he just decided to, you know, bloom where he was planted. He didn't understand what was happening to him, but he knew that God was with him, and he knew that God wanted to do something in him. So he just chose to work hard with excellence and a great attitude, and guess what?

his boss takes notice. After a while, Potiphar says to Joseph, man, you're really good. You're honest, you're smart, you're trustworthy, you know what? Everything I have now, it's in your command. You got full run of the house. I'm trusting you with all of my administrative affairs. So Joseph, you're doing his thing with character. He's being honored by God. Things weren't exactly like they were back home with his dad as his dad's favorite, but this was, this was working out okay. Until Potipher's wife, some of you might know the story, she gets this thing for Joseph. Now the scripture says that Joseph was this well-built handsome hunk of a guy. And I did a little word study on the ancient Hebrew word used for handsome in the text. Literally it translates totally bald with a little gut. Look at up yourself. I just made that up.

She tries to seduce this handsome guy. But because of the authenticity of his heart, he won't give in. He thinks, man, Potiphar, trust me. He's giving me everything in his house. How could I take his own wife? And then he says to her, listen, I can't do this and sin against God. Well, she's totally frustrated by that. So this one day, when nobody else is around, Joseph's working inside the house, she grabs his

clothes and demands that he sleep with her. Well, he pulls away, and as he does, his shirt, jacket comes off, and he runs from the house, and she's left holding his cloak, it begins to scream that this slave had tried to sexually assault her. And when Potterfer comes home, she tells him this big, phony, melodramatic story, which makes him furious. And Potterford throws Joseph in jail for attempted rape. Ever had one of those kind of days? Were you just trying to do the right thing? you're just trying to do the honorable thing, and then all of a sudden,

you find yourself looking through the prison bars of false accusation. But you know what the scripture says, right? Once again, it says, God was with him. God was with him in that jail. He was right there with him. Now, I don't know, but maybe God was reminding Joseph,

remember the dream I gave you? I really do. Have a great plan for your life. I really am going to take you somewhere. Listen, I really am going to do something. extraordinary with you. And I don't know, maybe Joseph is thinking, yeah, this is great, God, I really love the way you work.

Wonderful master plan, getting beat up by my brothers and thrown in a pit. That was awesome. That trip through the desert chained up with a bunch of gypsies. Wow, would love to rebook that cruise, being sold as a slave in a Potipher's house, rape charges for simply trying to honor you. Yeah, God, this is exactly how I pictured my life turning out. But you know what?

after a while the warden takes notice of his character and he makes Joseph head over the whole jail you see in spite of the circumstances Joseph once again was just one of those guys who decided to bloom wherever he was planted he knew that God was so with him and he was so honorable and he was so filled with integrity and so filled with a servant's heart that they make him a trustee kind of inmate number one of the whole prison well Pharaoh the king of Egypt gets real temperamental one day

and he sends these two guys to jail, his cup bear, kind of his personal butler, and his baker. I don't know why, maybe the bagels were a little stale, or maybe their water spots on the glasses or too much starch in his shorts. I don't know. But the king gets ticked off at them

and throws them in jail. And while they're there, the cup bear and the baker have these dreams. And they start talking to Joseph. Say, man, we've been having these crazy dreams. They feel so real. They're really, really detailed, and we can't figure them out.

That ever happened to you? And Joseph says, absolutely. I know dreams. I had one when I was 17, that God was going to make me a ruler of a nation and all my brothers and family were going to bow down to me. And they're probably looking at each other thinking, okay, so what are you doing here? But anyway, they say, well, we've had these dreams, and we don't know what to do with them. And Joseph says, listen, we're not going anywhere anyway. So why don't you go ahead and tell them to me? So they do. And Joseph, through the power of God, interpret the dreams that says, okay, here's the deal.

I don't know how to break it to you. I'm really sorry, Mr. Baker, but this is going to be it for you. Your days are numbered. Three, to be exact. You're going to be executed. Man, really sorry, dude. Mr. Cupbear, I've got much better news for you.

In three days, you're going to be restored to your position with the Pharaoh. Oh, and just one small thing, I'm really not supposed to be here. I've been kidnapped. I've been framed. I've been set up. So when you get back to the palace, the name is Joseph. Could you put in a good word?

for Joseph. Well, it happens. In three days, just as Joseph had predicted, the Baker was history, and in three days the cup bearer was right back in the throne room of the Pharaoh. But guess what he forgot to mention. He forgot Joseph.

Ever had one of those days? And for two years, the scripture emphasizes, two full years, Joseph waited in that jail. Now, let me suspend the story right there and say this. 13 years have gone by. Not 13 minutes, not 13 days, not 13 months, 13 years. And in every one of those days,

I think Joseph had the same opportunity that you and I have to lose sight of the principle that reminds us, God really does have a plan for our lives. He just has a much better view from above. And in every one of those moments, I think Joseph could have been limited by the little snapshot of what he saw in his circumstances and lost total hope that there was a loving God who had plans for his life. And maybe, just maybe, you're in the middle of one of those 13-year plans. I want to remind you that God sees the whole picture. He is a bigger canvas in its mind, and whatever we're able to see is just a little snapshot that fits in the plan that God is lovingly unfolding in our lives. God does have a hope and a future for your life. So trust him through it. Bloom where

you're currently planted. He loves you, and he is working behind the scenes to bring about good in you and through you. We'll pick up the rest of the story tomorrow, but let me pray for you today. Father, there are some listening today that feel like they're in the middle of one of those 13-year seasons. I just pray that you would comfort them today,

encourage them today, just wrap them up in your peace today, and remind them today of the plans you have for them. I pray that whatever they're going through, that they be able to grasp how high, how wide, how deep, how long your unfailing love is for them. And I pray all this in the name of Jesus.

Amen. Have a great day. See you back next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit Lake Point. point.church slash daily drive.