Over the Summer...

What do you say about one of the most life-changing summers or your life?

I think of something interesting I read in the Word about Joseph in Hebrews. Many biblical characters are recognized in Hebrews 11 for their feats of faith in the Lord. When it gets to Joseph he is recognized in this way - "By faith Joseph, when he was in his last days, gave instructions regarding his bones." I know...I was equally confused at first. Joseph could have easily been recognized for so many things. Perhaps, were I the writer of Hebrews, it would've gone something like this:

"By faith, Joseph trusted the Lord when his brothers sold him into slavery. By faith, Joseph grew in favor with the captain of the Egyptian guard. By faith, Joseph trusted the Lord when he was thrown into the Egyptian prison. By faith, Joseph rose to the highest place in Egypt."
So many other things that could have been recognized about Joseph's faithful service to God. But the writer of Hebrews points out Joseph's last will and testament. How could this be?

My confusion led me to believe that this is worth further study. Interestingly enough, I read all the way through the story of Joseph in Genesis for the first time. When I finally arrived at the conclusion of his life I figured out what these instructions were that were referenced in Hebrews. Joseph, even though he was dying, wanted his bones taken to the promised land. Astonishing!!!! Here's why~

Joseph knew that the Lord had promised him a better place. That Egypt was not the end...there was something much better to come. So Joseph placed all of his faith in what he had been promised by God. Boy, do I have a lot to learn.

Though Joseph had accomplished so many things he never lost sight of what he had been promised by his God. That there was a promised land coming, that it would be glorious, that it would be all that he had confidently hoped for all those years. Joseph could have easily been satisfied with being delivered from his chains or becoming one of the most powerful and respected men in all of Egypt. But he refused. He was satisfied only by the promise that God had given him. Even in his last days, when it would've been so easy to despair, he remained confident in God's promised land.

So then, where is the hope? The hope is in the promised land. It's easy to feel as if we've already arrived when we hit these milestones in life - graduating college, getting that first job, getting married, whatever it may be. It's easy to lose sight of the best which is yet to come. At the same time, it's easy to despair when life is weighing so heavily upon you that you feel like your very bones may snap in half. Even then, we must not lose sight of the land that is promised to us. It is because of this prmise that we can say like Paul that 'I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day." It is because of this promise that we know that the highest of highs is only a small taste of the glory of heaven. It is because of this promise that in the lowest of lows we can say that 'though He slay me, I will trust Him' because He has promised me something that goes beyond death...that is the victory over death.

This summer has been truly amazing. I've served like I've never served before. I can only attribute this to an amazingly renewed sense of gratitude for the precious blood that bought the land which is now promised to me. I look back on the past three months of ministry with no regrets. The Lord worked mightily and I feel so privileged to be the jar of clay which held the all-surpassing glory of all that is Christ. So I walk away from this summer knowing again what it truly feels like to be in love with the Savior and to be loved by the Savior.

Tomorrow, I return to ministry. Monday, I return to work. Tonight, I sit and look up at the beautiful view of the stars from my backyard and am reminded of my redeemer, faithful and true, and look forward to some glad morning when this life is over when I fly away to a land on God's celestial shore. I'll know I've arrived when I meet my Savior face to face. What an amazing promised land.