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[3349.68 --> 3352.26] Our eyes and our ears are called to focus,
[3352.26 --> 3353.28] just for a moment,
[3353.90 --> 3354.58] to the side.
[3355.04 --> 3358.30] And from the perspective of the omnipotent narrator,
[3358.52 --> 3359.52] we're reminded, right,
[3359.56 --> 3361.44] that something else is going on.
[3361.68 --> 3364.06] That even though the story
[3364.06 --> 3367.14] leaves Joseph in the well,
[3367.54 --> 3369.80] what's happening does not.
[3370.98 --> 3371.26] Right?
[3371.32 --> 3374.08] He's sold to Ishmaelites and Midianites,
[3374.28 --> 3375.84] but not forgotten.
[3376.66 --> 3378.58] There is a parallel story
[3378.58 --> 3381.46] that we can't yet see,
[3381.46 --> 3383.40] that briefly,
[3383.94 --> 3386.80] our eyes are being called to attention on.
[3388.04 --> 3389.66] That's what I mean when I say
[3389.66 --> 3391.34] remembering meanwhile.
[3392.14 --> 3392.22] Right?
[3392.38 --> 3393.98] Even when we can't see it,
[3394.22 --> 3395.68] even when we are overwhelmed
[3395.68 --> 3397.36] with our mourning as Jacob was,
[3397.44 --> 3399.74] even when the suffering is so great
[3399.74 --> 3401.46] we can't see past it,
[3401.46 --> 3404.18] you can know
[3404.18 --> 3407.18] that there is something else
[3407.18 --> 3408.42] happening.
[3408.56 --> 3409.58] There is a meanwhile
[3409.58 --> 3411.24] taking place
[3411.24 --> 3412.60] in your story.
[3413.88 --> 3414.26] Right?
[3414.82 --> 3416.12] Remembering meanwhile.
[3416.44 --> 3418.20] How we can survive and thrive
[3418.20 --> 3419.30] in the midst of human suffering
[3419.30 --> 3420.68] is by remembering
[3420.68 --> 3423.24] that even when it doesn't seem like it,
[3423.28 --> 3424.92] even when it doesn't feel like it,
[3425.14 --> 3427.14] God is sovereign over all creation.
[3428.14 --> 3428.30] Right?
[3428.30 --> 3428.64] In the end,
[3428.72 --> 3431.76] this story isn't really Jacob's story.
[3431.88 --> 3433.56] It's not really Joseph's story
[3433.56 --> 3436.10] or it isn't our story alone.
[3436.84 --> 3437.06] Right?
[3437.08 --> 3438.92] This is all God's story,
[3439.02 --> 3440.58] his creation story,
[3440.74 --> 3441.40] God's rule,
[3441.54 --> 3442.18] God's reign,
[3442.54 --> 3444.06] God at work in the world.
[3444.18 --> 3444.78] And remember,
[3445.26 --> 3446.72] God wins.
[3448.32 --> 3452.58] And our story is part of this story.
[3452.58 --> 3454.46] And so,
[3454.86 --> 3456.06] the theme that
[3456.06 --> 3457.30] sort of remembering meanwhile
[3457.30 --> 3458.30] works out under
[3458.30 --> 3460.78] is that God's godness,
[3461.98 --> 3463.62] the fact that he is God,
[3464.02 --> 3465.70] means that he is always
[3465.70 --> 3467.64] doing something.
[3469.18 --> 3470.64] God's godness
[3470.64 --> 3472.24] means that he is always
[3472.24 --> 3473.80] doing something.
[3474.64 --> 3474.84] See,
[3474.96 --> 3477.02] the positive side
[3477.02 --> 3478.62] to the truth
[3478.62 --> 3480.18] of the hiddenness of God,
[3480.18 --> 3480.22] God,
[3480.82 --> 3481.04] right,
[3481.20 --> 3483.20] is that not being able
[3483.20 --> 3484.18] to see God
[3484.18 --> 3486.20] means you might not
[3486.20 --> 3487.22] be able to see
[3487.22 --> 3489.28] how he is working.
[3491.10 --> 3492.16] It's really easy
[3492.16 --> 3492.90] to assume
[3492.90 --> 3494.34] that because we don't
[3494.34 --> 3494.94] see him
[3494.94 --> 3496.24] or can't understand it,
[3496.40 --> 3497.34] that he isn't there,
[3497.76 --> 3498.62] that he isn't working,
[3498.84 --> 3499.98] that he isn't doing anything
[3499.98 --> 3501.02] in the midst of our lives
[3501.02 --> 3501.50] and in the midst
[3501.50 --> 3502.12] of our struggles.
[3502.12 --> 3504.82] But we have to
[3504.82 --> 3505.50] acknowledge
[3505.50 --> 3507.50] that just because
[3507.50 --> 3508.58] I can't see him
[3508.58 --> 3510.24] doesn't mean
[3510.24 --> 3511.12] he isn't.
[3512.90 --> 3513.58] Or to put it
[3513.58 --> 3514.14] another way,
[3514.82 --> 3515.40] perhaps a little bit
[3515.40 --> 3516.26] more philosophically,
[3517.00 --> 3517.66] the evidence
[3517.66 --> 3518.76] of absence
[3518.76 --> 3519.84] is not
[3519.84 --> 3521.34] evidence of,
[3521.72 --> 3522.50] or the absence