{"id":920,"date":"2019-04-16T03:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=920"},"modified":"2019-04-17T06:46:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T13:46:24","slug":"only-in-movies-and-the-sovereignty-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=920","title":{"rendered":"Only in Movies and the Sovereignty of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Resume production.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene one<\/em>: Joseph, now thirty, still in the\ndungeon prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Pause<\/em>: Everything changed overnight. Actually, it was thirteen\nyears times 365 long nights. Pharaoh had two dreams about fat cows and lean\ncows, but no one knew the meaning. God had set the stage for what happened\nnext. The butler remembered the young man he&#8217;d met in prison, and the king sent\nfor him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene two<\/em>: Joseph changing clothes and shaving, a\nperplexed look on his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene three<\/em>: Joseph standing before the king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I\nhear you can interpret dreams.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I\ncan&#8217;t, but God can,&#8221; Joseph said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pharaoh\nrelated the dreams, and Joseph explained that God was getting ready to do\nsomething huge. The dreams foreshadowed seven years of abundance, followed by\nseven years of severe famine that would ravage the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joseph\nrecommended a plan: store grain during the plentiful seasons to feed the people\nduring famine. He suggested Pharaoh select a wise man to supervise the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nruler discerned Joseph to be such a man, one led by the Spirit of God, and made\nhim governor over all the land of Egypt, second only to himself in authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene four<\/em>: Joseph selling grain to people\nstreaming to Egypt from famine-stricken lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacob&#8217;s\nsons\u2014except the youngest, Benjamin, who stayed home with their aged father\u2014came\nto buy corn from Joseph. And they bowed down to him. Over twenty years had\npassed since they&#8217;d discarded their little brother and they didn&#8217;t recognize\nhim. Although Joseph knew them, he kept quiet while arranging events that troubled\nthe men and made them think God was avenging their evil deed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Flash forward<\/em>: Joseph overcome with emotion, revealing\nhis identity. The brothers trembled in terror, expecting payback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Do\nnot be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me\nhere,&#8221; Joseph said. &#8220;It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of\nyou&#8230;to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great\ndeliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me\nfather to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Camera<\/em> z<em>oom<\/em>: Joseph\nweeping, instructing his brothers to return home to Canaan and bring their\nfather and their families to Egypt to survive the famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Camera fade<\/em>: Joseph embracing his aged father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Flash forward<\/em>:<em> S<\/em>eventeen\nyears later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene one<\/em>: Jacob blessing his sons before his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene two<\/em>: Worried brothers, convinced Joseph had\npostponed retribution for his father&#8217;s sake, sending a message that Jacob\nwanted him to forgive them. &#8220;We are your slaves,&#8221; they said, falling\nbefore him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scene three<\/em>: Joseph reassuring his brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp9m6jT-eQ&#038;text=You%20intended%20to%20harm%20me%2C%20%20but%20God%20intended%20it%20for%20good%20to%20accomplish%20what%20is%20now%20being%20done%2C%20the%20%20saving%20of%20many%20lives.%20.&#038;via=DianneBarker12&#038;related=DianneBarker12' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">You intended to harm me,  but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the  saving of many lives. . <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp9m6jT-eQ&#038;text=You%20intended%20to%20harm%20me%2C%20%20but%20God%20intended%20it%20for%20good%20to%20accomplish%20what%20is%20now%20being%20done%2C%20the%20%20saving%20of%20many%20lives.%20.&#038;via=DianneBarker12&#038;related=DianneBarker12' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;Don&#8217;t\nbe afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended\nit for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So\nthen, don&#8217;t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.&#8217; And he\nreassured them and spoke kindly to them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Camera fade<\/em>: Sun setting over Goshen where Jacob&#8217;s\nchildren spend the rest of their lives growing in numbers and receiving God&#8217;s\nblessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tag<\/em>: In every scene the Director, our sovereign God, followed\nhis script. It&#8217;s no surprise the production exceeded box-office expectations. And\nJoseph&#8217;s dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Roll the credits.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Reflection: <\/em>Happy endings like that happen only in the movies&#8230;and the sovereignty of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Adapted from <em>Cabbages and Kings\u2014Reflections on Living Abundantly in Christ. See Genesis 41-50<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a9 Dianne Barker 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please leave a comment about how Sovereign God worked in\nyour life in a surprising way, giving a hurtful situation a favorable outcome.\nAnd I&#8217;d be grateful if you would share this with your friends!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Resume production.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Scene one: Joseph, now thirty, still in the dungeon prison. Pause: Everything changed overnight. Actually, it was thirteen years times 365 long nights. Pharaoh had two dreams about fat cows and lean cows, but no one knew the meaning. God had set the stage for what happened next. The butler remembered the young [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,332,333,331,330,329],"class_list":["post-920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-dianne-barker","tag-from-prison-to-the-palace","tag-god-has-a-purpose","tag-happy-ending","tag-joseph","tag-only-in-movies-and-the-sovereignty-of-god"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Only in Movies and the Sovereignty of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the sovereignty of God, Joseph&#039;s life changed overnight. 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