Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.” (Genesis 41:38-39)

It’s been said that the successful executive is the one who can delegate all the responsibility, shift all the blame, and take all the credit. That’s the plan some people use to achieve success; but that strategy is like a house of cards – it won’t stand very long. Joseph’s example shows us how to achieve and handle success in a way that honors God.

Notice that timing is important to the success that God gives. Here, in Genesis 41, Joseph just then came to the pinnacle of his success; but it took him a long time to get there. Joseph had been “wasting” his time in prison the previous years; but it wasn’t a waste at all. It all had a place in God’s timing for Joseph’s success. From his youth, Joseph had the idea God had destined him for great things. But Joseph didn’t know the fulfillment of those great things would take so long.

Psalm 31:14-15 says, “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.” Can you say this also? Can you say to God, “My times are in Your hand”? So often we feel as though we are all ready for what we know God will do for us or through us; yet we must rest in the Lord, and say to Him “My times are in Your hand.”

Joseph had been promoted by Pharaoh; he had risen from the pit to the pinnacle. But we shouldn’t think Pharaoh was the one responsible for Joseph’s promotion. God was the one responsible. Joseph wasn’t waiting on Pharaoh to get out of jail; he was waiting on God. The Psalmist reminds us: “For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another.” (Psalm 75:6) The credit for Joseph’s amazing rise to power did not belong to Pharaoh, or to Joseph, or much less to blind fate or circumstance. It was the fulfillment of God’s divine plan.

Another thing to notice is that Joseph had two sons, whom he named Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:51-52). Joseph lived in Egypt. He married an Egyptian woman. Joseph worked for the Egyptian Pharaoh. Yet he gave his two sons Hebrew names. This shows us that Joseph has not forgotten about God, even in his success. Many people, when they have been promoted the way Joseph was promoted, feel they no longer need God. They think that God is only good for the prison and not for the palace. We should be like Joseph, who was devoted to God no matter what – bad times and good times.

Here’s a good prayer for today: “God, give me a heart that will wait on You, and serve You faithfully, never forgetting You even when I am successful in the eyes of the world.”

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 41

Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:13-14)

Physical blindness is a special burden to bear. Yet the Bible tells us there is a worse kind of blindness – spiritual blindness. Isaiah 29 is all about spiritual blindness – the causes and cures of it. In part, Israel was spiritually blind because they wanted it and chose it. In part, they were blind because God sent blindness upon them. Isaiah 29:13-14 explains why He did this.

First there is a dramatic accusation against the people of Jerusalem: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me” In Isaiah’s day Jerusalem knew how to talk the spiritual talk, but their hearts were far from God.

You can’t always tell a person’s heart by what they say. You can’t always tell a person’s heart by what they do, at least in a single deed. Though only God can really know the heart, the closest we can come is by looking at the whole of their life – not only what they say or only what they do, and especially not only at how they act at church or among Christians.

Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). This is a true, but not absolute principle because people can draw near to God with their mouths and honor the Lord with their lips, and their hearts can still be far from God. Of course, their speech will betray them at one time or another – but perhaps it will never happen at church!

This manner of talking the talk, but not having the heart, didn’t end in Isaiah’s day. Jesus quoted this same passage from Isaiah when He rebuked the religious leaders of His day for their hypocrisy (Matthew 15:7-9, Mark 7:6-7).

Because of all this, God gave the sad verdict: “The wisdom of their wise men shall perish.” Because Jerusalem’s pride had led them into spiritual blindness, sleep, drunkenness, illiteracy, and hypocrisy, God promised to destroy the “wisdom of their wise men.” Their supposed wise men promoted the pride that led to all these evils.

Isaiah called this “a marvelous work and a wonder” when God decides to reject the wisdom of man and to display His own superior wisdom. Many years after Isaiah, the Apostle Paul was also amazed at the “wisdom” of man, and how it compared to the “foolishness” of God (1 Corinthians 1:21-25).

Isaiah and Paul were in perfect agreement about the great wisdom of God and how human wisdom – though it has its own glory – must always take a second place to the wisdom of God. You would have to be blind to not see it.

Click here for David’s commentary on Isaiah 29

“Now as he [Paul] reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was a afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now, when I have a convenient time I will call for you.’” (Acts 24:25)

In Acts 24, Paul was on trial before a Roman governor named Felix. Felix heard what Paul said, and the Roman was impressed by the message of the gospel. He knew that he had to get his life right with Jesus Christ. Yet he avoided doing anything, and he excused it by telling Paul that he must wait for “a convenient time.”

The excuse of Felix is repeated over and over again in the lives of thousands upon thousands of people.

First, it has application to those who have never trusted in Jesus to be right with God and men. Perhaps they think it is fine thing to be a Christian, and it really is something they must give attention to – but not now. Later. Yes, it must be later.

They tell themselves they will give attention to spiritual things later, when life isn’t so stressed. Later, after they have had their fun. Later, when surely it will be easier to be a Christian.

Of course, all such thoughts are a delusion. There will never be a more convenient time than today. This is why the Bible says: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). If God calls a person, moving on their heart to get their life right with Jesus, it is essential that they do it now. They should never assume God will deal with their hearts the same way tomorrow, or a year from now. Every man or woman has their warnings; and every soul that ever perished had a last warning. A wise person would regard today’s warning as perhaps the last one.

Second, the passage has application to the life of those who are already Christians. We have found peace with God through the finished work of Jesus, but God hasn’t finished His work with us yet. Are there places where we resist God’s work under the excuse of waiting for a more convenient time? Perhaps one has an outburst of temper, but instead of dealing with it rightly before God, they say, “That’s just the way I am. Perhaps one day God will change me.” So, they push away the drawing, warning work of the Holy Spirit, waiting for a convenient time to get that area right with God.

God’s work in our life will often be challenging – sometimes even inconvenient for us. Can we submit to God, and allow His work to inconvenience us at times? If He is truly our Lord, we can.

Ask God today to show you things you’ve been putting off, making excuses about, and should address before Him. Then in the wisdom and strength of God’s Spirit, do it.

“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.” (Genesis 32:24-25)

In sports, there is nothing more frustrating than losing to someone who isn’t as good as you are. Sometimes the victory is won by the player or team who isn’t as talented or as trained, but on that day, the ball bounces their way. It’s different when you lose to someone better than you are. You can walk off the field or the court knowing that you’ve played your best game, you worked hard and did well – you were just overmatched. The better player or team won.

In Genesis 32, Jacob had one of the most fantastic athletic contests of all time – a wrestling match with God. We may speak spiritually of wrestling with God in prayer, or wrestling in spiritual warfare, but Jacob’s wrestling was physical as well as spiritual. He was locked in competition with God in human form – the Man of Genesis 32:24 was God Himself who wrestled with Jacob.

On a physical level, Jacob lost. God touched his hip and took him out of the fight. Having wrestled all night, Jacob limped back to his family that morning a loser. But Jacob won spiritually; he clung to God until blessing was promised (Genesis 32:29).

Jacob was a satisfied loser. A better Man beat Him. Sometimes that’s what it takes for us to receive God’s blessing. We need to square off with God, man to Man, have Him beat us, and then honor Him as our Lord. We then may look at God as our Superior, as the competitor who has fairly and decisively bested us. As the winner of every competition, God deserves our utmost respect. And as a loser in the contest, I can still hold my head high. I have been won over by a better Man.

In what ways do I wrestle with God? There are many opportunities for me to resist what God wants to do with me. I may not physically strain against Him as Jacob did, but my resistance is just as real, and my hopes of resisting God successfully are destined to be disappointed.

Losing when I struggle against God is a good thing. It brings me back to something I need to remember: that God is the Creator and I am His creature. There is a comfort in knowing and walking in my place as His creation. I can look up to God and honor Him as the One who genuinely deserves to be my Lord. He has won me over.

Today, you can pray something like this: “Lord, help me today to see ways that I am resisting you. In those areas, please win me over. And when I find you winning me over, let me look for Your blessing in my losing.”

“And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.” (Acts 21:15)

Paul and his companions were on their way to Jerusalem. They had traveled a long way, mostly across the Mediterranean Sea. Now they were on the last part of their journey, going from Caesarea on the coast and then inland toward Jerusalem.

Luke traveled with Paul, indicated by the use of “we” in this sentence. In writing about this part of the trip Luke said something small, yet in my mind significant. He noted, “we packed.” This is noticeable because this was the end of a long journey, yet Luke never before noted that they packed. They sailed from Miletus to Cos, from Cos to Rhodes, from Rhodes to Patara, from Patara to Tyre, Tyre to Ptolemais, and then finally from Ptolemais to Caesarea. They obviously packed and unpacked at each step along the way, but Luke never mentioned it. He only wrote about it here, as they prepared to leave Caesarea and go to Jerusalem.

This makes me think that perhaps this was the first time Luke visited Jerusalem, and like any follower of Jesus, he was excited. He knew that this was the famous City of David, the location of the great temple, and the place where Jesus taught, did miracles, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven. Luke thought that every detail of this last part of their long journey was exciting, and so like an excited tourist he even mentioned, “we packed.”

Beyond the sweet, personal character of those words, there are a few other things to consider about this mention that “we packed and went.”

It shows us that God loves order, and packing is simply the ordering of what we have in preparation for travel. God is a God of order and planning, and our desire to have things in order is a reflection of His image in us. We should never make order and organization an idol, but it is important to be mindful of them because God is full of order and organization.

It shows us that it is wise to prepare for where we are going. Paul, Luke, and the others traveling with them each knew that packing would help them be ready for both their travel to Jerusalem and their time there. Therefore they took the foresight to get ready by carefully packing. The same principle is true for us. We all have an appointment with the future. This is true for the near future, and it is wise for us to prepare for what lies ahead in this life. So, get an education. Learn a trade. Develop a skill. Prepare for the future.

It is even truer for our eternal future. Each of us has an appointment with eternity, one that no one escapes. You should do your packing for that journey. Give your attention to eternal things right now. That means:

– Give attention to God Word, which is eternal.
– Give attention to people, who are eternal.
– Give attention to giving, to send treasure ahead to heaven.

Before you go up to the New Jerusalem, make sure you have packed and prepared for the trip.