The Greatest Challenge Of Them All // Don't Miss God's Opportunities, Part 4

<p>Last time on the program, we talked about the fact that one of the best ways to discern whether an opportunity that’s before us is God–given or not, is to consider the fit between our natural gifts and abilities and the demands, or the requirements of the opportunity. Does this opportunity really fit with who God made me to be. But sometimes … God calls us to do things that don’t come naturally</p> <p> </p> <h4><span style="color: #ff9900;">The Challenge of Forgiveness</span></h4> <p>Over the past few weeks, we've been travelling along with young Joseph, son of Isaac in the Old Testament, on his journey through life – a journey that had some real downers, much like your journey and mine – and yet a journey that was heading in a direction that only God could foresee.</p> <p>There was Joseph, one of 12 brothers, the youngest one and dad’s favourite. His father was Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham – although God had given Jacob a new name. He’d called him … Israel, and unbeknown to anyone, these 12 brothers were the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. That was a long way off.</p> <p>Here is what the relationship between Joseph and his other brothers looked like Gen 37:1–4:</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob.</em></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.</em></p> <p>But things only got worse, because Joseph had two dreams which he shared with his brothers and father, that one day he would rule over them a