By Scott Brown
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly
Focal Passage: Genesis 41:15-21, 33-40
God is faithful to give His followers abilities and opportunities to serve Him.
I have a friend who began to seek these opportunities. He began to pray fervently every morning that God would allow him the opportunity to share with someone the gospel. He would then begin to look for those opportunities and committed that he would not miss one.
He was sitting in his police car eating his lunch one day when a man he had never met walked right up, knocked on the window, and asked my friend to tell him about Jesus. My friend did just that and led that man to Jesus right there.
Not every opportunity comes so quickly, easily, or obviously but God is always faithful to help enable His people to obey Him, grow in Him, and make Him known.
Joseph stood before Pharaoh after a years-long journey of betrayal, lies and malice that he continually endured. All of the pain that God allowed him to suffer was never wasted or meaningless but was working for his good to bring him to this place at this time prepared in this way to be used mightily by God.
We don’t know if Joseph was at all aware of how God was working at this time but he took the opportunity to stand before Pharaoh and declare the power of his God.
Whether it was standing before Pharaoh, his brothers, or chained up with a baker and a butler, Joseph was always quick to take whatever opportunity laid before him to praise God and share his wonder with others.
How would each of our lives be changed if we began to view our daily living not as a series of random events but as God’s sovereign hand guiding us where we go and when we go for the singular purpose of being used for His glory?
What if students recognized themselves first as missionaries on their campuses, placed by God and empowered by God to make Him known, and secondly as students?
What if we began to view our jobs no longer as working solely for a paycheck but as an opportunity to work with all our might to the glory of God and salvation of others?
This same intentionality could extend into our trips to the grocery store, the doctor’s office, even church.
I don’t know if that attitude would change the world but it will surely change your world. It doesn’t require anything great to be used greatly by God.
Joseph was enslaved, falsely accused, and imprisoned but he didn’t miss the opportunity to make God known. Opportunity knocks, but not forever, so let’s resolve not to miss another opportunity to serve Jesus, to share Jesus, or to celebrate Jesus together!
