The Greatness of God

God is great! I have heard and said that since I was a little child. The truth is instilled in my heart. Along life's path I have encountered many people who have struggled with greatness. Some expressed this with egotistical actions. Others have denied the greatness within them, not believing they could attain to their dreams. They became unwilling or unable to reach beyond the obvious. Unfortunately, I have fallen into that catagory a good deal of my life. I am determined to get out of that pit forever!

Some people who reach for the stars, so to speak, are dubbed manic or crazy or dreamers. Most find that their friends do not believe in them and their dreams. Take Joseph for example. He had God-given dreams and yet his own brothers did not believe him! He, like so many before and after him, could not shake the drive for greatness. Joseph was thrown into a pit, mostly by the decisions of others. Perhaps one could fault him for not using wisdom in his bragging about his dreams. But even so, it was the decision of his brothers that landed him in a pit and ultimately, a foreign country and prison!

He could have chosen bitterness. He would have been justified by most people, to have screamed "Unfair!" at the top of his lungs. And the pit was not the end of his woes. He suffered humiliation at the hands of a lustful woman. He chose to do the right thing and ended up in prison. And all this because of the greatness of God and His plan for Joseph!

I have thought about my life. I had youthful dreams and apsirations which I now believe were God-given. Much of my life I chose to listen to the opionions of others instead of reaching for the fulfillment of those dreams. It started with simple teasing about my birth date..Friday the thirteen. It went on from there, though, looking back, I am perplexed as to what made me desire the opinion of others over the greatness of God. Yes, I got glasses in fourth grade. I was a bit clumsy and bumped into things a lot. But I also was smart, fairly athletic, and had a nice home and friends. I tried to share my vision with others. Even my parents did not believe in God's greatness within my heart. My mother constantly reminded me "not to think more highly" of myself than I ought! She highlighted that verse in my Bible, along with the one about "doing all things without murmuring or complaining".

While I believe to this day, that I should honor my parents, I realize now they had a limited perspective, based in their own fears and doubts and misguided teaching. It has taken me a very long time to become comfortable with myself...to believe in those youthful dreams again!

Joseph served God in the pit, in the prison, and in the foreign country. He held onto the vision of greatness until God brought it to fruition! While I have not always had the same attitude as Joseph, I have served God to the best of my understanding. I realize now that He brought me out of a pit, bought me for His service, and led me into a number of foreign circumstances...( uncomfortable, unusual, and different from the way I was reared). But He has never left me, not has He changed His mind about HIS greatness in me.

One day Joseph's brothers realized God's hand on his life. They were the recipients of God's greatness through Joseph. My family and even my friends, as well as yours, may never recognize His greatness in us. WE may not recognize that all the difficulties we encounter, all the heartaches, are leading us into His greatness and His plan. But God will express His greatness in and through us as we trust Him and praise Him, always recalling that it is HIS greatness that we are called to express!