Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.

- Exodus 1:8

Joseph saved Egypt. His wise counsel and faithful stewardship positioned Egypt to thrive when a 7-year famine wreaked havoc on much of the rest of the Middle East. God used Joseph to save many, many lives – both Hebrew and Egyptian.

Generations later, the new king didn’t know Joseph’s story. He didn’t have any gratitude toward Joseph’s descendants and didn’t have any respect for Joseph’s God. Forgetting Joseph’s story, the king lost an important element of his own story.

There are tremendous consequences when we forget the bigger stories going on around us.

God gives us stories as lenses to use to interpret our life experience. We look at the biblical stories and then look back at our lives and can see “God’s doing something like this here.” Without the bigger biblical stories, we might assume that deliverance is impossible, reconciliation is undesirable, or that sin gets the final word. But story after story tell us otherwise.

God also give us stories to guide our path. We remember the stories about how God has worked in Chatham Community Church. We celebrated some of that this past week at our anniversary celebration. And when we think about next steps to take as a church community, we lean on those stories and the God who made them happen.

Lastly, God gives each of us our own story with him so that, over time, we can discern particular patterns that God likes to use to mold us and shape us and encourage us. Your story with God shows you how God is likely to speak or move or act in your life. God has his own signature way of connecting with you. And you can discover it if you’ll pay close attention to your story.

God wants to cultivate in us a rich spiritual memory.

What personal stories from how God worked with you in the past do you need to pay closer attention to right now? What stories do you think we as a church need to lean on in this season? What biblical stories are currently connecting with your life today?