Content my soul in you O Christ, who alone are sufficient to my longings.
When my heart is beset by wheedling desire for what it does not have, remind me, sweet Jesus, that I have no right to a thing, simply because it exists.
The perpetual allure of new innovation does not negate the call to faithfully steward those resources you have temporarily entrusted to my keeping.
Guard my heart therefore against idols of silicon and circuitry enticing with slick-veneered promises of a more sophisticated and upgraded lifestyle.
Content my soul in you, O Christ, who alone are sufficient to my longings.
In such moments of technological temptation, when I might justify to myself the reasonableness of a costly purchase, speak louder, O Lord, than the voice of my self-serving thoughts.
If there is no real need for, or true wisdom in, the purchase of a new technology, service, or application, then let me be content with fewer options,
slower speeds,
smaller memory,
less diversion,
less gadgetry.
Let me be content, O Lord, with what I truly need to accomplish the necessary tasks before me.
Nay, let me be content with nothing but thee. O Christ who alone art sufficient to my longings, I would be your trusted servant, at liberty to employ and to enjoy all things at my disposal, without being owned by any of them—using technologies to further good ends, while never seeking them as ends in themselves.
For it is not the advance of digital platforms that will usher in your kingdom, but the work of your Spirit in the world, and in the hearts and lives of your people.
Content my soul therefore in you, O Christ, who alone are sufficient to my longings.
Amen.
— taken from Every Moment Holy, Vol. 1, Douglas Kaine McKelvey, A Liturgy For Those Who Covet The Latest Technology, 163-4
Should anyone’s life illustrate the maxim, “If God brought you to it, he’ll bring you through it” it’s Joseph. Very much against his will Joseph was “brought down to Egypt.” But it would not be the end of the story. Faithful Joseph, as you know, went from the pits to a palace and became the vice-ruler in Egypt!
His employer explodes and throws him in prison. Even still, Joseph conducts himself in such a way that impresses the warden and is given special privileges. If he thought his good conduct might gain him an early release, however, Joseph, now in his 20s, had another thing coming. Literally.
This is the life of young Joseph. Misunderstanding. Betrayal. Mistreatment. Injustice. One thing after another, and still more after that. Thirteen l o n g years.
All of it, every last bit of it, was intended to get Joseph next to the ruler of Egypt where he could be positioned to do greater good in the world. Talk about earning a promotion!
Could you handle that assignment?
After all he had to endure, Joseph grabbed hold of his God and clung to him for dear life. There are quite a few sterling moments to draw out of his testimony, but I want to highlight just this one:
Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard about you, that you can interpret dreams.” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “It is not within my power, but God will speak concerning the welfare of Pharaoh.”
What startles me about this is that Joseph, in spite of everything,still believed God was all-powerful and he was motivated to do good. There doesn’t seem to be a shred of bitterness in him. Joseph still believed there was a divine plan at work and God was using his story of faith to bless others.
Fellow struggler, trust God down there in your Egypt. There is a way forward even though you wake up to the same thing day after day. You think this is it, this is all, just grit your teeth and bear it. I assure you there’s a plan in the mind of God and it is good.
One thing you don’t see Joseph doing — quite remarkably — is playing the victim. He shows us if we can thrive in and rise to the level of excellence in our adversity, by the grace of God, we will be overcomers. It may take 13 years (Joseph) or 20 years (Jacob) or 25 years (Abraham & Sarah) or 40 years (Moses), or however long, but you won’t find a better alternative than to
TRUST
GOD’S
PLAN.
I must hasten. In studying the travails of Joseph I want to leave you with two immutable truths:
1. it’s always right to do good even if you don’t see a reward for it
I get it; everything about this makes you want to scream. Where’s the justice? The equity? You wonder why you have to smile and take it. Do right though the stars fall, I once heard. Keep your hand to the plow, Jesus said. Don’t do right for right’s sake, Paul said, do right for Jesus’s sake.
To that end I read this aloud from my prayer book this morning:
I would serve in imitation of you, who poured out your life for me. I would serve knowing that your Spirit is ever at work in the lives of those I serve, ever calling, ever drawing, ever seeking to soften hearts encased in fear and disappointment and anger and idolatry. So let my kindnesses and sacrifice fall like warm shafts of sunlight on icy ground.
I cannot know the end of another person’s story… So let me be content to minister regardless of visible outcomes, trusting that the small mercies I extend will be woven into the larger theme of redemption at work in the lives of others, as you woo them to yourself…
Every Moment Holy, Vol. 1, p. 158
2. God’s favor will find you even in your darkest trial
Okay. If we’re being honest, none of us is going to be a ruler over a nation. We probably won’t get our story published; this post won’t go viral. But is that what it’s about anyway? Could we (hear me out) say amen to God even if we knew nothing would change?
I leave you with this. At the end of his grave injustices, Joseph got married and raised a family. I beg you to read about that here. The names of those two boys, Manasseh and Ephraim, tell quite a story. Your homework is to study their meanings. What I’ll say about it is this: Joseph married an Egyptian bride, but their sons bore Hebrew names.
That tells me Joseph wanted to remember his journey. None of it was a mistake. Not a single year was wasted. Even in Egypt, Joseph’s God was faithful, his trials were necessary, and the outcome was favorable. I have a feeling if Joseph never got out of that prison, never sat on a throne, never had a family, he’d still say
“It’s not me, it’s God.”
Joseph lived to be 110. He learned to love Egypt but his hope was in the home country. He wanted to go home. That’s all that matters in the end. When you’re finished with me in Egypt, Lord, take me home.
Hey, beloved of God, if he brought you to it he’ll bring you through it. He gave you the assignment; he must be pretty certain you will come through to the other side to tell your story. And what a story you’ll have.
Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.
Jeremiah 45:5
Jeremiah’s sidekick, Baruch, is plotting his next move.
He’s stood faithfully beside Judah’s wildly unsuccessful prophet, but now he’s tiring of unpopular ministry. Compounding his misery, he’s got a brother playing for the other side, faring well among the ruling class. That brother, also a scribe, hitched his wagon to a star, but Baruch, to a whipping post.
It’s not hard to imagine Baruch eyeballing the other side of the fence to contemplate a change. An upgrade, perhaps. Maybe his brother will give him a palace gig.
“What’s bothering you, Baruch? Are you tired of living righteous in an unrighteous world? Are you envious of the other side? Don’t be. The other side is marked for destruction. Seek Me, not worldly greatness. I am enough. Stay faithful and you will live.”
Baruch was the scribal secretary to the saddest and loneliest man in Judah. His boss was a pariah prophet, a truth-teller to a culture of therapeutic deists. Jeremiah refused to play the game so he got himself banned from the temple.
This was a bridge too far for Jehoiakim. Insurrection! Treason! Sedition! If Jeremiah won’t shut up, he’ll just have to shut him up — permanently — both he and his errand boy.
It was about then Baruch started weighing his options.
I read about a woman who was planning for ministry among the Chautauqua tribe of Native Americans. This was her surrender, the ache in her soul, her single-minded passion.
Ina Mae Ogdon never realized her dream because she was called back home to nurse her ailing father. Did she resent her father? Even worse, did she resent God?
Some years later Ina Mae, already a prolific writer of hymns and poems, looked back on that unexpected detour in the words of a song, “Brighten The Corner Where You Are.” It’s clear she made peace with the path God chose for her.
Could you be content in being a foot instead of a hand? Would you submit to being a footnote instead of a headline? Might you light a candle in a closet when you would prefer a spot on the dais?
Who’s to say greatness is measured by whether or not you are a published author? Are you a failure if your church can’t break fifty…or a hundred? Are you a success if you boast 100,000 followers on social media? Or if your home is a magazine ad?
Hear me out … What if greatness is measured in eternity by “humble and sacrificial servanthood, and not in any pursuit promising a rise to power, position, or prestige…”? (Every Moment Holy, Vol. 1, 206) Could you sign on to that?
Vance Havner said, “Too many of us aren’t big enough to be little enough to be used of God.”
Recently, before I met with God, I read aloud from the prayer book, “Every Moment Holy, Vol. 1” That day’s entry struck oil in the tender soil of my heart:
At a pastor’s retreat one of the ministers noticed how a woman joyfully cleaned each of the rooms every day. On the final day of the weeklong retreat he found her in the bathroom and made a point to ask her the question he’d been wanting to ask since the second morning.
There she was, on her knees, scrubbing the bathroom floor, humming a familiar tune.
“How do you do such degrading work so happily?” he asked.
“Its not degrading to me,” she replied with a noticeable brightness. “I just remind myself I don’t have to do this, I get to do this!”
That dear woman sought only one thing in her life: to shine in whatever corner Jesus put her, no questions asked. She turned a bathroom floor into a cathedral of worship.
Sandy recently volunteered for the children’s ministry at our church. She explained to the director how she felt drawn to the nursery. In her words she said, “I want to whisper ‘Jesus loves you’ to those babies in a way they’ll never forget it.” Instead, she was assigned a K-2nd grade class.
I met her after the service and was greeted with her warm smile. That’s my Sandy. Her heart is an abiding ‘amen’ to Jesus.
While she’d prefer holding newborns (since she’ll never hold her own grandchild), she brightened her corner. She didn’t fuss or complain. She just shined where Jesus needed her.
All that matters in the end is,
“Were you faithful?”
“Did you love people or use people?”
“Did you crave the spotlight or did you make Jesus big?”
“Did you brighten your corner?”
I’m fairly certain Baruch got the smallest chapter in Jeremiah because “seeking great things for yourself” is the petty desire of small people.
Don’t live for this world’s applause. Brennan Manning said, “Do the Truth quietly without display.”
The word to Baruch was, “A great shaking is coming and those who are living on flow’ry beds of ease now will die in their luxury. But if you can praise me from your corner I will bless you with abundant life, far greater than you can possibly imagine.”
We don’t really know what happened to Baruch. I’d like to think he chose life. I choose that too. If you’re reading this, I pray you will also.
May we brighten the corner where we are until the great and glorious day when Christ says, “It’s time to move. I have prepared a new place for you. Come and see.” It’ll be worth every corner, detour, sideline, back seat, bathroom floor, hidden place, and anonymous season we’ve ever known.
Selah, beloved.
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