Meanwhile: Meeting God in the WaitSample

Joseph’s doting Dad, Israel, also known as Jacob, provided a unique tunic for his favorite son. From the highly descriptive Hebrew, we learn that Joseph’s tunic had long sleeves going past his wrists and length to his ankles. Highly decorated, you could see Joseph coming a mile down the road. Not only was Joseph’s tunic beautiful, but it was also representative of Joseph’s intimate relationship with his father. The type of robe Israel provided for Joseph was a garment of favoritism and of leadership.

Your Father, because He loves you so dearly, has also provided a special tunic for you, just as Jacob did for Joseph. Your garment is multicolored and extraordinarily beautiful. The world should see you coming as you walk through storms, challenges, and disappointments in life, displaying your covering, provided through an intimate and loving relationship with your heavenly Dad.

This colorful robe also symbolized the garment of praise we have been given by our Father, to carry us through our difficult days. Just as Joseph’s jealous brothers did to him, Satan, the enemy of your soul, will try to strip you of your garment of praise. If the enemy can convince you to take off your garment of praise, he can better attack you with lies concerning your identity. You might begin to consider the untruth that the Father doesn’t really care about you and that He has forgotten you. But worship, the human response to the love of the Father, protects us. We do not worship God based upon our circumstances or because of our desires but based upon our relationship with our Father.

You are completely covered in and identified by the tunic of praise the Father has given to you, simply because He is head over heels in love with you. During difficult moments in life, our garment of praise should cover our lives completely, vividly prominent for the world around us to see. The prophet Isaiah, through the unction of the Holy Spirit, reminds us that when life is the most devastating, our praise should shout the loudest.

The Father knows what you and I often ignore—the only way to survive deep tragedy and undeserved pain is through the gift of worship. Praising God does not ignore our pain, but it enables us as His beloved children to process it in the healthiest way possible.