The Coat of Many Colors

“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that…He heareth us...” 1 John 5:14

In the Bible, Joseph, the patriarch Jacob’s beloved son, received a Coat of Many Colors from his father.

Jacob gave this coat to Joseph to show the father’s heart for his son.

That coat is still available for us today!

That “coat”, that assurance of God’s love for me, that confidence that He hears me and will respond, is the most valuable thing I own.

I haven’t always been so sure of God’s love.

I had been seeking God for many years, but I still felt like I was just performing for the Almighty.

I did everything I felt God wanted me to.

Around this time, I knew God kept pricking my heart. Like I needed to lift my head up and realize His love.

But I couldn’t believe it.

Years of bitterness and cynicism started surfacing as God kept pricking my heart.

When God wanted to show me his tenderness, I felt an almost guttural roar: “LiAR!”

One night, in the midst of a gathering, as God kept moving, I couldn’t take it anymore.

My heart was questioning everything.

“I don’t feel like You’re for me,” I said, speaking to the stars above me.

“I feel like all this time You’ve just been asking me to do things for me. All You want from me is a performance.”

Around that time, I’d been eyeing a brand new table saw I wanted to buy. I liked the brand and the style, but I hated the price tag.

A week or two after my late-night rant, the table saw on the job site went out.

Scrambling to find the tool we needed to continue working, a friend looked up and found a sale. “Can anyone buy this table saw?” my friend said. “We need it to keep working.”

When they told me, my jaw dropped. That same exact brand table saw in that same exact style was on sale.

I felt like God was asking me: “why didn’t you even ask Me? I had it here for you.”

Had God caused the one table saw to go out just so He could bring my attention to the sale for that table saw? I almost felt like He did. I almost felt like He had orchestrated that whole thing just so He could show me He was there if I only asked.

I wondered if God had, but it wasn’t enough to overcome my skepticism.

My life was full of work I felt God had led me to seemingly meaningless, tedious work. At times, my brain started wanting to examine it. “Was God REALLY in this?”

I overheard a friend recommend a book to someone. As soon as I heard the title, I felt something “click” in my heart. I knew God wanted to speak something to ME through that book.

I found the title and began listening to it.

As the author–whose voice reminded me a lot of my earthly fathers’ voice–described the school of Christ, I began to see the pattern emerge in my own life.

Had God caused the one table saw to go out just so He could bring my attention to the sale for that table saw? I almost felt like He did. I almost felt like He had orchestrated that whole thing just so He could show me He was there if I only asked.

I wondered if God had, but it wasn’t enough to overcome my skepticism.

My life was full of work I felt God had led me to seemingly meaningless, tedious work. At times, my brain started wanting to examine it. “Was God REALLY in this?”

I overheard a friend recommend a book to someone. As soon as I heard the title, I felt something “click” in my heart. I knew God wanted to speak something to ME through that book.

I found the title and began listening to it.

As the author–whose voice reminded me a lot of my earthly fathers’ voice–described the school of Christ, I began to see the pattern emerge in my own life.

Years ago, I started a journey to the high places looking for a father.

Now I realized the tedious, seemingly pointless jobs I’d been doing had been part of God’s plan.

I saw how God was working tenacity, confidence, vision, order, the ability to receive and give help, and so much more through all the seemingly random work.

Beyond my comprehension, the Father God had been there through all of it.

God' was raising me up to be able to handle and walk the glorious plans He had for me.

Raising me up to be a son.

That realization changed my life.

I felt I had seen too much to believe in God’s goodness. Now I realized I had been as blind as a bat.

I knew then–-not just heard–-I KNEW God truly was there for me.

God was there. God would show up.

I knew that.

And again, that knowledge, I call it: my “Coat of Many Colors” was my most valuable possession.

In this last month, I felt that “coat” around me very much.

I felt it when I rolled my truck, and yet walked away unscathed.

I felt it when, the next day, God healed my bruised, stiff shoulder, the only significant injury from the accident.

I felt it when God redeemed the accident, bringing me a better truck at a better price within just a few days of my wreck.

I have no idea what I did to deserve God’s protection, healing, and redemption, in the midst of my utter stupidity.

I only know He loves me. God deeply loves me.

“...that you may be able to comprehend…what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God, which passes knowledge…” Ephesians 3:17,18,19.

You never need to feel alone.

It’s not just a song or a Bible verse.

God truly, deeply loves you.

When you get the knowledge down deep inside of you, your life will never be the same.

I know, because mine hasn’t been, either!