Something happens to us when we become parents. There is a shift, a turning, a reorientation. Then, when we become grandparents, there is another even more solemn turning. It is perspective, yes, and so much more. 

Joseph’s story began with a dream, and then another, of his future greatness. Telling others how awesome you are now and on into the future is not the best way to win friends and influence people. Joseph’s most-blessed life and his most-blessed life to be started well and ended well, but it had a whole lotta trouble in the middle. 

Are you in the middle today?

Joseph’s dreams all came true. The book of beginnings, Genesis, ends with God true to his promises and Joseph highly exalted. 

The verse above is included within a broader narrative. It does not stand alone. It does not necessarily stand out upon first reading. Here we are, however, at one of those moments of turning, a new path entered and traveled upon which we can never retrace. 

Here is where Joseph fully grasped the meaning of his existence. This is where his full life purpose became crystal clear. What God had been engineering since before time began suddenly came alive. Instead of everyone, his father included, bowing to him, he bowed in reverent awe to what God had been doing long before he was born and what he would do long after he was gone. 

Jacob had a story equal to Joseph’s. Isaac before him had a story. Abraham, well, everyone knows Abraham had a story. Now, in this moment, Joseph realized in an ultimate sense that this is God’s story, not ours. It is his purpose, not mine. It is his world where he seeks to bless everyone everywhere through the faithfulness of one man, one family, one nation.

Joseph could only bow. No other response would do. What was next was made possible by what had happened before. Israel was all about struggle, wrestling, and blessing. Joseph saw the blessing he had dreamed so long ago. The blessing was so much bigger than he had imagined. He did not own the moment. He merely stewarded it well. 

It’s good to learn to bow, to kneel, to acknowledge God’s grace and mercy, his purpose and path. 

There’s so much more to life than winning and losing, achieving and failing, three steps forward and two steps back. There is becoming all you can be in God’s greater story so that the blessings fall on those who come after us. 

The crossed hands of Jacob on his grandsons (48:13-20) remind us how God’s plans are different from our plans. We see straight lines of succession. God sees success through the lens of eternal purpose, not family organizational charts. Sometimes, the younger excels the older. Sometimes, the smaller beats the larger. Sometimes, we should turn left when everyone else turns right. 

One last look at Joseph comes at the end of chapter 50. Take a look at verse 23. “Were recognized by” can mean Joseph ritually adopted Manasseh’s son Machir’s sons the way Jacob adopted his sons. Joseph gained the last measure of perspective of God’s purpose. His best work is done beyond us as he builds upon what he did through us. And then Joseph died and was gathered to his people, and God’s story grew broader and deeper, and continues in you and me today.

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I will live in the light of new perspective.

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Our Father, thanks for making me a history major. Thank you for the perspective of what you have done, are doing, and will do. Thank you for helping me see those who came before me in new light. Thank you for helping me see those who come after me with new eyes. Empower me to live today in complete agreement and fulfillment with your plan for my life. Amen.