One Moment Away from a Miracle

If you are anything like me, sometimes the familiarity of the Bible stories and events can distance us from some of the impact they can have on us.  I mean, when you read the same book or watch the same movie multiple times – when you can quote them word for word – some of the power is gone.  Some of the wonder and insight and fresh perspective seems to disappear.  When I find that happening with a portion of the Bible, I know it is time to do something.  The Bible is no normal book.  It can be fresh every time we read it because God can always give new insights.  But sometimes, it helps if we step back, take a breath, and try to look with new eyes.

It was time for a fresh perspective.

I did that recently with the story of Joseph and his reunion with his brothers in Egypt, found in the book of Genesis.  I have always loved Joseph.  In spite of being sold into slavery and spending quite some time in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, he remained faithful to God.  He is a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus.  And he is a source of hope for all of us as we see him lifted up to a position of great respect and power after all he suffers.  But I have heard the story of Joseph so many times.  I have even seen the musical about it more than once.  It was time for a fresh perspective.

I try to step into the hearts and minds of the people in the Bible. 

When I need to see with new eyes, I often try to step into the hearts and minds of the people in the Bible, wondering what they felt and experienced in the moment.  This time I did that, not with Joseph, but with his brothers.  In Genesis 42, many years after the brothers sold Joseph into slavery, they are faced with a famine.  Their father, Jacob, sent them with money to Egypt to get some food.  They ended up meeting with Joseh in the process of buying some grain to take home.  The part I often forget is that they were totally clueless about what was going to happen to them over the next days and weeks.  They thought Joseph was probably dead, or at least laboring in slavery very far away.  They were clueless about the situation they had just stepped into.  We get to see it from all angles.  We know who they are meeting and we know about the reunion that is about to take place.  But they don’t.

There was no good way out of it.

I can only imagine their fear and shock when this leader they were meeting with, Joseph who they don’t recognize, suddenly got angry with them and accused them of being spies (verse 9).  Not only that, but the only way to keep from being arrested and to prove their innocence was to go back to their father. They had to get him to allow his youngest and most beloved son to travel to Egypt – something Jacob was absolutely dead-set against.  And they couldn’t just agree to it and then never return, because one of them was being held in jail until the rest came back.  There was no good way out of it.

Putting myself in their position, I would be overwhelmed by panic and confusion. 

Putting myself in their position, I would be overwhelmed by panic and confusion.  Imagine going to the grocery store with some of your family, but leaving your spouse and your youngest child at home.  As you are going to check out, the police suddenly come and want to arrest all of you for grand theft.  They haul you off to jail for 3 days before they come up with a solution.  As far as you know, you are all going to stay jail for a long time unless you can prove your innocence somehow.  They finally tell you that the only way to prove you are innocent is to have your spouse turn over the youngest kid to the authorities.  And if you don’t, one of your other children is going to sit in jail perhaps for the rest of their lives.  This is just a horrific situation!

The brothers did what most of us would do in the situation.

The brothers did what most of us would do in the situation.  They started to wonder what on earth they did to cause such a terrible and unfair situation to happen.  They decided they were being punished for what they did to Joseph so many years before.  (verse 21)  They agreed to the terms, and Simeon was left behind in jail.  Joseph loaded up all of the grain they bought and they headed out, hoping somehow all this would work out.

The perspective of the brothers makes me think of all the challenges that people face now.

But the situation was about to get worse.  Joseph had secretly put all the money they used to buy the grain back in their sacks.  When they stopped along the road, they realized that now, besides being accused of spying, they were going to be accused of stealing as well.  What a hopeless, terrifying situation.  And Simeon was still there in jail, facing who knows what punishment.  If it were me in their shoes, I don’t think I could have come up with any plan that would get me out of that one.  The perspective of the brothers, when I remember that they don’t know the backstory, makes me think of all the challenges that people face now.  Ones that seem unsolvable, terrifying, and completely out of our control.  Ones that are beyond any reasonable solution and that bring us to our knees. 

They were only one moment away from a miracle – they just didn’t know it yet.

The beauty of this story is that when they returned to Egypt after getting Benjamin as they had promised, they were only one moment away from a miracle – they just didn’t know it yet.  They were one moment away from being reunited with their brother, from experiencing complete forgiveness and grace for what they did to him, and from moving to a land where they would be well provided for in all the coming years of famine.  They were about to be redeemed, restored, and provided for beyond their ability to imagine.  And it was only one moment away.

She was just one moment away from a miracle.

It reminds me of another story in the Bible – the story of Mary Magdalene at the tomb.  Again, I have to remind myself that Mary didn’t have the perspective I do.  She couldn’t look back in history and know that Jesus rose from the dead and that He lives forever and reigns.  All she knew was that this person that she loved, followed, and believed in was dead.  He had tried to tell His followers He would rise again, but it was so foreign to their thinking and so beyond anything they could imagine, they just couldn’t understand it.  They must have felt so scared, so full of grief, and maybe even so betrayed when they saw Him die.  It wasn’t supposed to be like that – not with Him.  So we see Mary at the tomb – hopeless, broken, and lost. She was horrified to see that Jesus’ body was missing.  She could only imagine one reason – someone stole him.  She saw a man who she thought was a gardener and in her panic and grief she tried to get answers from him.  We know who He really was, but she didn’t.  She was at the very lowest, most hopeless moment of her entire life.  And she was just one moment away from a miracle.  She was just one moment away from Jesus saying her name and revealing Himself to her.  She was just one moment away from realizing that Jesus is still alive and that all He said was true and that there is an eternity with Him.  She was just one moment away from knowing beyond a doubt that Jesus had not left her and never, ever would.

What is God about to turn around for you if you just hold on a little longer?

Just one moment away.  Those are such powerful words.  No matter what we are walking through in this second of our lives, what if we are just one moment away?  Mary and Martha were just one moment away from getting their brother, Lazarus, back from the dead when they asked Jesus why he hadn’t been there to heal him.  The disciples were just one moment away when they needed to feed thousands of people but they only had a little bread and a few fish.  What are we just one moment away from?  What pain, hurt, fear, or hopelessness is God about to turn around for you if you just hold on a little longer?  Maybe it won’t be as miraculous as seeing a person raised from the dead or completely healed in a moment.  Maybe it will be something that changes in you and not in the situation.  But if your trust is in the right place, it will change to restoration, forgiveness, provision, and healing in remarkable way. And that moment could be closer than you think.

Jesus is the miracle.

The thing that makes all this possible is the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Joseph was a symbol of Jesus – the one who offers grace, mercy, love, and healing.  Complete forgiveness and complete acceptance.  Jesus is that one who rose from the dead to bring those who are spiritually dead back to life.  Jesus is the living water and the bread of life to feed all who are hungry.  All it takes to have that help is to turn your life over to Jesus.  He is the miracle.  He is the answer.  If you haven’t turned your life over to Him, maybe this is your moment.  Do it now.  If you have, keep turning to Him and trusting – you never know when your miracles are just one moment away.

I hope today’s message touched your heart, increased your understanding, and encouraged you.  Praying the peace and comfort of Christ Jesus on your life.