Desperation


	Reading from Gen. 40-, there is a sweet story of surrender that is told in the life of 

Joseph. Up until his ascension to leadership and prominence in Egypt, this story was really 

quite tragic, with the very thing in which he was most gifted causing him the most grief. It 

appeared in the first part that he was really badly treated and that there should be no mercy 

for the ones who treated him so. There is in this, however, a depiction of the design of God 

upon a life and the using of every aspect of its plot to reveal Himself and His mercy and love. 

Sometimes it appears that there can be no reconciliation and restoration in the lives and 

relationships of so many with their Father. Sometimes it seems there is no hope for a future 

of renewed fellowship and communication. There is in this story, though, a demonstration 

that all things can work together for good and that, in the end, each element, even though it 

be conceived in evil, can be used for the completion of His will. 

	The pivotal element for the brothers in this story, though, is the point to which they 

are driven and the complete and total desperation that overtakes them when all they hold 

dear becomes threatened in the time of famine. Though they may have had much land and 

material possessions, though they may have had social status and position, all they 

possessed was of no value whatsoever if there was no food to sustain life. They would not be 

blessed and there would not be restoration of relationship with their brother until they 

became completely desperate and willing to give up all for the acquisition of life's greatest 

requirement. Until this was all that mattered and they were willing to give up everything for 

it, there was not a heart willing to give up pride and open to repentance and acceptance of 

the one they had rejected so long ago. 

	Like Joseph's brothers, there is for us a pivotal point of desperate surrender. This is 

when we see the acquisition of His presence as the only hope for continued existence. There 

can be no going on without the comfort of His nearness. All that we have done wrong and all 

that we have done right no longer matter, but we are transformed into a heart focused on 

Him alone and in the condition of openness to the in-flooding of all that is righteous and 

pure from His throne. This place of complete surrender to and desperation for His presence 

is the place that all must come to and it is the place all must remain in order to hold on to 

this incredible treasure. While Joseph's brothers took years to arrive at this place, Joseph 

must have arrived there at an early age, remaining there through all his difficulties and 

through all the success of his power and wealth. There is, for us, a lifetime of being gratified 

by the sustaining presence of the Lord awaiting our arrival in this place of heart desperation. 

The maintenance of this heart, then, becomes the continual quest and pursuit of the one 

who has experienced Him and has entered into a life of desperation to remain there in Him. 





			3/13/04