Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father call us close to His side through His Word, that we might better know and do His Will. Father, we are our children who know and do what you say! Please help us to comfort one another in our sufferings, to bear one another's burdens, from our daily eating of your Word. Father, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, teach us to love one another with our Bibles. Help us to entrust ourselves to what we are reading there. And to rejoice! Amen.
Your Morning Song: "I Just Need You" by Toby Mac
Your Morning Scripture: Genesis 40:7-8 & 41:14-16
So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”
Later...
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
...
Chances are, if you're reading this, you've lived some life as a child of God. You've seen some things. You've experienced difficulty. You've had to face hard times. You've lived some life. And over the last few years, I've joined you.
My wife and I have been talking through this together. We've struggled in life in ways we never could have imagined. We've had friends get sick, get hurt, get divorced, die. And it seemed like such a surprise. We've asked the question, knowing the answer is yes, "Was it like this when we were kids? Was this kind of stuff happening?" Yes.
How should we love each other, now that the veneer of childhood and being a young adult is thoroughly gone? How do we care for each other when the bad news hits? What do we say to our friends and family and coworkers who, like us, are broken people living in a broken world?
A friend, a brother in Christ came to me recently and told me that he got some bad news, of the very serious kind. We spoke, just he and I. I wished that I could change his news, that I could fix everything. But I couldn't.
Only God can give hope. Only God can give comfort. Only God can give answers. So instead of trying to fix his situation, I focused on just being present with him. I listened a lot, which is both harder and easier than it sounds. And when I shared, I spoke from scripture. Some of it was straight out of it, word for word. Some was just the foundation for a comment or question. And it helped. It really helped. Not to fix my friends situation, but to fix both of our eyes on God, His Word, His Will, His Ways .
It was not my cleverness or eloquence with the Bible that made the difference. It was my submission to it, and to its divine author. And also the humbleness of my brother's heart towards Him.
We are not called to be our version of God to other people, fixing them and changing them. Impossible. We are called to bring God to other people. To share with each other reminders of His grace and eager love. To acknowledge Him as trustworthy to bring hope in all situations. To point to Him in our own suffering. To submit to His wisdom and then marvel at how He causes it to flow out of us as a spring of Spirit-led wisdom.
Want to comfort a grieving friend? Perhaps say little. Be present. But if you must speak, speak words of life from the word of life. And trust your God to give you His words to say. And if you daily eat of His Word, He will give you His Word to say. If you do not daily eat of His Word, you will starve, and you will have nothing to offer anyone else.
May we be a people
who love each other well
by going to the only well
that gives life.
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