You're in the Middle | Genesis 43 | Crossroads Daily

I think there's just something that happens in the waiting process that like doesn't happen in other seasons. One of the things in what you said kind of reminded me of like, I felt like God was deconstructing me of like all of the things that I placed my confidence in, the things that I used to build me up, you know, build up my confidence. And it's like he stripped me from all of that and then began to rebuild me, you know, like, no, this is what your confidence is going to be. This is going to be the source of your confidence. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts. No perfect people. Just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Debo. I'm Miko. I'm Peter. So Joseph's story continues and I love the suspense. He still is not revealing to his brothers who he is, like, man, yeah, Joseph had to exercise some patience, thinking about just what his life had been like. This moment that he probably never thought was going to happen again. He never thought he would see anybody from his family again and they're right in front of him and he doesn't just jump right in and say, hey, it's me. It's a good reminder that there are lots of times in life where waiting is the right thing to do. It's the active thing to do, even though we think acting is the right thing to do. So think about a time when you've had to learn that lesson, that waiting is actually the wiser thing than acting. Any examples come to mind? I'd say my journey on Crossroads stuff actually is a great, is a great example. I started out, yeah, I started out as an intern and then an internship turned into another

internship, which turned into another internship, which turned into what was called a fellowship, which all of which, which by the way, none of those were paid, right? Well, they were paid, but not at the level where you could support yourself on your own. So I was living in a friend of- It's an important detail, right? At one point I was living in a, just a friend's spare room in his house, working at Starbucks to survive, like, hey, his ministry for me, like, and every few months I was just praying. There was one time I remember I was like, I literally broke down on like the Starbucks parking lot. Like, God, do you still want me here? You know? And he's, and I was like, do I need to go? Like, and he's like, yeah, no, I still want you here. I'm like, okay. Every three months I'd pray that prayer, you know, and, and the, the God was so faithful through all of it. I didn't realize at the time, but that period he was stripping so many things out of me that were going to hurt my ministry in the future. I couldn't actually carry or do the job that I do now if I had gotten it when I wanted it. Wow. Like, what's an example? What's something you stripped away in that time? Pride. Very much. Like, I, I, I loved, I had a lot of confidence in my, in my ability and, and those were gifts from God and that confidence was not unfounded, but the cool thing was- You're very often the smartest guy in the room. I love you. I appreciate it.

I appreciate it. It's true, right? He, uh, I'm just trying to see if I can get you to blush. I'm just trying to see if I can get my friend Peter to blush, but no, I get, I get what you're saying there. Sometimes you can lean into that pride and confidence. He was showing me that no matter how good of work I did, I couldn't work my way into the thing that I wanted. That's what he was saying. Cause it was, it was not about the quality of my work. Was not the, it was not about that. That's good. And so that was such as actually freeing. It was not, it's not a performative thing. I spent a lot of identity in some romantic relationships I was in and those had to end and be taken apart and like, oh, there was, there was a lot, there was a lot of stuff going on in me at that time. And so looking back and back, oh, that was such a period of great faith. Most people felt like such a period of scarcity. So good. So good. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that too. Yeah, of course. A time when waiting was the right thing to do, but may not have been as easy as acting. I think about my journey of singleness. I'm married now, almost two years in September, so exciting, but I was single throughout my entire twenties and into my thirties. And I remember feeling like, okay, God, at the beginning of that, I was like, I'm willing to wait for the right person.

And then years and years and years and years, and you know, like going on dates and you know, just nothing serious. And I remember telling God, like, I don't know how long I can wait. You know, like this is, I've seen so many good things come for my friends around me and like, and that waiting journey was so hard, but again, similar to you, Peter, like God was showing me so many things that he was doing in that season of my life. Like, and it brought me to the person that like, I'm so thankful I waited for it. Like I, I'm glad I didn't just act out in, out of, you know, impatience. It was a journey that God took me on that helped reveal more of his goodness and his provision and him being my father. And then we did really something really, really sweet. So I just think about that, like the journey of, yeah, being single for a very long time. That's super relevant too. Yeah. And congrats on the wedding, by the way. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I think. I don't know, man. I feel like I've gone through so many different waiting seasons in life. I'm like, okay, which do I choose in this moment? But I don't know, because I think the long-suffering, I think there's just something that happens in the waiting process that, like, doesn't happen in other seasons. It's specifically, like, God hides certain fruit in those seasons specifically. And I remember one of the things in what you said kind of reminded me of, like, I felt like God was deconstructing me of, like, all of the things that I placed my confidence in,

the things that I used to build me up, you know, build up my confidence. And it's like he stripped me from all of that and then began to rebuild me. You know, like, no, this is what your confidence is going to be. This is going to be the source of your confidence. And not that I've just kind of got that thing down pat now, but it's like, I'm definitely, like, I continuously, like, go back to that space. I recognize when I've veered from that space and I'm like, no, that's not what Christ-centered confidence feels like. That's pride or that's ego or that's this or that's... And I'm able to kind of, like, come back to that center space. But I think that was a place that he really grew me familiar with in that season of waiting, in that season of just trusting him and believing him for, you know, that somehow, some way life was going to be better. And this was just a part of the process. That's so good. I'm going to have us hypothesize, because we don't necessarily get all of this from the scripture. But what do you think that waiting period produced in Joseph? Like, my brothers are in front of me. The dream that God gave me all those years ago, it was real. And yet, I'm in the in-between. What are some things, let's just brainstorm. What are some things you think that produced in Joseph in that in-between of, like, they're here, oh, my goodness, and me telling them? More empathy and compassion for them. I think the more time he spends with them, the more time he talks to them, the more he's like, oh, like, some of that love for his brothers that maybe had been shriveled, you know, kind of, you know, renews. Yeah. I think when he says, what you meant for bad, God meant for good,

I think that realization happened in that space, because I'm sure over the years, he probably still carried some of that resentment or some of that, you know, he's been abandoned from his family. He's gone through all of this. And I think in that moment, it just brought everything, like, full circle. Like, no, this was the dream God gave me years ago. So, and I'm able to recognize this was the journey that I had to go on to get to this space. So, while you may have meant that for evil, like, God meant that for good. Yeah. I think, Leah, like, a draining away of the bitterness, both at his brothers and at God. It's just, like, literally, it's draining away, because he's like, man, obviously, that wasn't the picture. Yeah, I think it, like, activated his faith probably to a new level of, like, I'm literally looking at the dream that God gave me as a boy. Like, how can I not believe, like, God's word is moving forward? That's right. I, like, pray for stuff like that. Like, that's an amazing thing to actually experience. Absolutely. And think about that. Like, this wasn't the end of Joseph's story. Right. Like, there's a whole next chapter of the story of him bringing his family to Egypt, you know, to Goshen, right outside of Egypt, and what that was going to do. And even at the end of his life, I love it, where Joseph says, do not bury me here. He says, I want to be buried in the land that God has promised our people, right?

And even the legacy that he's leaving for the next generation. So, like, I just think that's interesting to think about, like, in my life, what patience has produced that nothing else could have produced, you know? Like, there's a perspective I have on God's faithfulness because of waiting that I've had to go through in my life. Yeah. God has had me in seasons of grieving. Yeah. I think I've learned so much. That's one of the things I keep going back to, like, man, like, in the same way that there is a spiritual discipline called prayer, and there's a spiritual discipline called worship, I believe there's a spiritual discipline called grieving. And I think we both, I, I blow by it. I'll talk about me. I blow by it. I don't want to sit in it. Yeah, yeah. And yet, some of the best things that have been produced in me over the last several years have come from, actually, stop. Yeah. Wait. You're in a season of grieving. Yeah. And it is okay to wake up many days and be like, really? That really happened? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Man, that hurt. And I think there's something that we get from that that we don't get any other way.

And so I just think that's, there's something there for us to remember about what God does in the waiting. That makes me think, I joked in the last episode about, I would just kill the brothers immediately, you know? Yes, yes. And that would have been me or Joseph, hypothetically, operating out of that space of hurt and having not grieved. Yeah. He probably did grieve and experienced enough healing throughout that grieving process to where he didn't, that was not his reaction. And now he then gets to become the provider that's for his family, when he was the one provided for and spoiled at the beginning. That's just kind of, I don't know, that's just a beautiful moment. That's beautiful. Great writers in the Bible, aren't they? Yeah. So good. Great writing, the Bible is just great writing, isn't it? We don't appreciate it enough, people are like, oh, it doesn't read well. It's so good. It's really well. It reads very human. And so maybe today you're at a place of waiting and yeah, you want to be moving and just know this, God will move you.

There will come a time to move, but maybe in this season of waiting, there's a benefit that God has specifically for you. ♪♪♪