Genesis 35 through 40

In these chapters we learn about Joseph. He has dreams where things are bowing down to him, such as the sun, moon, and eleven stars (Genesis37:9). His brothers hated him for the fact that they were possibly going to bow down to him. They hated him so much that they planned to kill him, but instead sold him into slavery. While being a servant, his servants wife came to realize how great and good looking Joseph was that she tried to get him to sleep with her. However, Joseph knew that this would not honor God, but that this would be a sin against Him, so he ran from the woman after she kept on pressuring him to do such a thing. However, this woman did not appreciate Joseph not doing as she told him, so she accused him of trying to get her to sleep with him and he was placed in jail. However, God was with Joseph. God was kind to Joseph and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joesph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did (Genesis39:21-23).

This story of Joseph and God giving him success no matter what He did, made me think about following Him. If we listen to Him, if we follow Him and do as He asks then we will be successful in whatever we do. God never tells us to do things to set us up for failure, but tells us to do things so we can thrive...so we can do well...so we can bring honor and glory to Him! Yes, people may not understand the things we do as followers of Jesus, as lovers of God, but still if we do as He asks those things won't bother us. We won't be bothered by their lack of understanding... Yes, people may criticize us and look down on us, thinking we are silly for believing in God, for believing He would call us to do whatever He has asked of us...but we won't be bothered by that either. We may not seem successful to others if we are following Him, but in our hearts we will know differently. We will know that listening to Him, following Him, having Him in our hearts is what success is all about!

Thought (question) of today: Do you think every aspect of life can be full of passion? There are things in life that may be boring or less entertaining than other areas, but can there still be passion in everything one does? Does Jesus want us to live with passion in all areas of our lives?