Joseph | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Do Not Be Afraid, but Do Be Prudent

Anita Mathias — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 21:58:13 +0000

“Do not be afraid,” a dream-angel tells Joseph, to marry Mary, who’s pregnant, though a virgin, for in our magical, God- invaded world, the Spirit has placed God’s son in her as long foretold by Isaiah. Call the baby Jesus, or The Lord saves, for he will drag people free from the chokehold of their […]

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When, For a Season, God Himself Blocks You

Anita Mathias — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 11:09:50 +0000

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to save many lives,” Joseph quietly tells his brothers. (Genesis 50:20) Oh they did; they sure did, first throwing him into a disused well, then uncaringly selling him on for thirty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, not caring what became of him. And what […]

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On Trusting our Work to God: Moving Upwards by Standing Still

Anita Mathias — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 09:20:47 +0000

Reginald Arthur, 1893, Joseph before Pharaoh Joseph is seventeen when he sees his sheaf stand up and his brothers’ sheaves bow down. When he sees the sun, moon and eleven stars bow to him. * * * Interestingly, God shows him his destiny, the end of his days, but not what he needs to do […]

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The Zigzag Ways of God’s Blessing

Anita Mathias — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:33:05 +0000

Joseph had a rarefied spiritual gift: God spoke to him through his dreams, and he could interpret the dreams of others. In the night, which belongs to the Lord, he sees his sheaf stand upright while his brother’s sheaves bow to it. He sees the sun and moon and eleven stars bow to him. He […]

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Who can Stand Before Jealousy?

Anita Mathias — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:01:03 +0000

Who can Stand Before Jealousy? (Prov. 27:4). If Joseph, whose story in Genesis I am re-reading, realised the dangers of provoking jealousy, he could have avoided 20 hard years. Joseph, his father’s favourite, given an glorious robe…. His brothers, of course, “hated him, and could not speak a kind word to him.” Joseph, whose dreams are […]

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In which there is Poetic Justice, for God is a Poet, but there is also Mercy

Anita Mathias — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 08:29:15 +0000

Even while Esau was out hunting his father’s favourite wild game, Jacob and Rebecca slaughtered and cooked two choice young goats. Jacob served these to Isaac, pretending to be Esau, stealing Esau’s blessing. A cruel deception. And, uncannily, years later, in his own old age, Jacob’s sons sold his favourite son into slavery, dipping Joseph’s precious robe in […]

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Living in a Story Still Being Written

Anita Mathias — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 22:57:47 +0000

It can take ten thousand years for the light from the most distant stars in our galaxy to reach us. And if the speed of light can be so slow, if its story unravels so glacially, why are we astonished when we fail to immediately understand the story of our lives? * * * […]

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“You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, for the saving of many lives”

Anita Mathias — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:12:00 +0000

So Joseph tells his brothers who betrayed him, tried to kill him, sold him into slavery. He let it go, left vengeance with God. Forgiveness is easier when you can see how God truly made it work out for good. In a situation, in which I was greatly wronged, 2 years ago, I have seen, […]

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