Grabbing the Brass Ring

 “Look, this dreamer is coming! Let us kill him…We shall see what will become of his dreams!” Genesis 37:19-20

As many of you know I am the second born of four daughters, and was constantly being compared to Becki, the firstborn daughter. Obviously in school I followed behind her by two years and many times was assigned the same teacher she had been previously assigned. Most times, when I ended up with one of her teachers, they expected the same quiet and well-behaved student. They discovered quickly that I was not my sister and they would spend the year having to suppress my giggles and silence my talking. I remember feeling jealous that teachers didn’t like me as much as they had my sister. But never in a million years was my jealousy as out of control as Joseph’s brothers. I absolutely adore my sisters and am thankful that was the extent of my emotions. The brothers witnessed daily the favor their father had towards Joseph. No matter what any of them did it would never rise to the level of that ultimate position…the favorite. Joseph had a brass ring to grab and his brothers had to polish it! However, Joseph had no idea the adversity and suffering it took to ‘grab that ring.’ They would ensure that Joseph’s dream of them bowing down to him would never materialize by selling him into slavery. They couldn’t see the end result up ahead 20 years later when the one they most hated would be the one who saved their lives. ‘The very idea they despised then would save them in the end.’ Finding God Faithful, Kelly Minter, p. 36.

How many times have we been placed in circumstances that we despised? How often have people claimed things over our lives that prompted us to make decisions in the opposite direction? How many situations looked like a brass ring was up ahead only to be further distanced from us? Years ago, God set up a situation for me that was so gut-wrenching and heartbreaking that I doubted anything good would come from that season. But the blessing that God brought out of one of my deepest seasons of suffering was the gold ring of freedom! No longer would I chase after the approval of mankind…no longer would I allow another person’s opinion to determine my peace and joy…no longer would another person define my worth based on my actions. Like Joseph, never in a million years would I have thought that the deepest canyon of my despair would bring the most beautiful of the gold rings to grab.

Whatever you have experienced with whomever, they don’t hold your ring. God holds the only ring up ahead for you to grab and the path is adorned with His approval…His love…His favor on your life. Don’t look back unless you are re-tracing the movement of God that has brought you this far. Look up ahead with your hand reached out so you won’t miss the ring!