Why does God take so long when He can fix it at the click of His fingers? Why
does He appear to do nothing though you have waited so long? Why would He be
silent when He knows your struggles and how difficult it has become to keep
from breaking down? Worse still, why would He let you go through all this when
'bad people' appear to be prospering, enjoying all you think you also should
have. So many other questions I don't want to bore you with but I wonder - have
you ever asked any of these questions particularly in those quiet moments when
it is just you and God?
Joseph is one man that must have travelled this part a couple of times. Remember when his brothers sold him to Egyptians and he was taken away from his land, culture and family. He was taken from familiar environment to very unfamiliar environment and circumstance. Not only did he arrive in Egypt a slave, he was also in the midst of a people whose language he did not understand. I can imagine how lost and lonely he must have felt. Unfortunately, they had no telephones then so he could not have called anyone back home and he knew that he had no means of going back. How lost he must have felt, yet he was on the path to fulfilling his destiny and He did not turn away from His God.
Job 13: 15a "God might kill me, but I have no other hope."
I know it's easy to say God has a purpose in that trial or test of your faith; it's easy to say God is working good in it to bring you to the fulfillment of your destiny but really do you even know what this destiny is? Joseph was even better of; he had dreams that he understood about his purpose. What of you who never had a dream that revealed your destiny; you who can not remember receiving any revelation concerning your destiny but yet you go on holding onto the word of God? The truth is whether or not you have received a revelation, it does get tough. At some point the travails of life can cause a believer so much pain that even the dreams and revelations become blurred. It got that tough even for Jesus.
Luke 22: 42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
These are some of the realities of our faith that one wishes do not exist. I wish God would be that fairy godmother I read about when I was a child. How tough it is to encounter the realities that reveal that God isn't that fairy godmother but in truth, so much better. I sometimes have to endure His mode of operation because it is not often my preferred option of attaining to those heights only He can get one to. However, He knows what He is doing as He works to bring us to our predestined end. We celebrate you if it's always easy for you but we also celebrate everyone of us who is carrying on with joy yet knowing that if they could advise God, they may have asked Him to do it differently.
2 Timothy 2: 3 "Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."
I guess Joseph may have fallen in this last category too. Whilst serving term in jail for an of fence he did not commit, he was not depressed but conducted himself so well that he was put over all the prisoners. Yet when he got the opportunity, he did not miss asking for help from the butler and the chief of the bakers. At that point, he too must have been tired and 'concerned' about the ways of God but at the end of the day God came through putting Joseph on display as one of His masterpiece displaying His craftsmanship. He will do the same with you if you hold on.
Joseph is one man that must have travelled this part a couple of times. Remember when his brothers sold him to Egyptians and he was taken away from his land, culture and family. He was taken from familiar environment to very unfamiliar environment and circumstance. Not only did he arrive in Egypt a slave, he was also in the midst of a people whose language he did not understand. I can imagine how lost and lonely he must have felt. Unfortunately, they had no telephones then so he could not have called anyone back home and he knew that he had no means of going back. How lost he must have felt, yet he was on the path to fulfilling his destiny and He did not turn away from His God.
Job 13: 15a "God might kill me, but I have no other hope."
I know it's easy to say God has a purpose in that trial or test of your faith; it's easy to say God is working good in it to bring you to the fulfillment of your destiny but really do you even know what this destiny is? Joseph was even better of; he had dreams that he understood about his purpose. What of you who never had a dream that revealed your destiny; you who can not remember receiving any revelation concerning your destiny but yet you go on holding onto the word of God? The truth is whether or not you have received a revelation, it does get tough. At some point the travails of life can cause a believer so much pain that even the dreams and revelations become blurred. It got that tough even for Jesus.
Luke 22: 42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
These are some of the realities of our faith that one wishes do not exist. I wish God would be that fairy godmother I read about when I was a child. How tough it is to encounter the realities that reveal that God isn't that fairy godmother but in truth, so much better. I sometimes have to endure His mode of operation because it is not often my preferred option of attaining to those heights only He can get one to. However, He knows what He is doing as He works to bring us to our predestined end. We celebrate you if it's always easy for you but we also celebrate everyone of us who is carrying on with joy yet knowing that if they could advise God, they may have asked Him to do it differently.
2 Timothy 2: 3 "Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."
I guess Joseph may have fallen in this last category too. Whilst serving term in jail for an of fence he did not commit, he was not depressed but conducted himself so well that he was put over all the prisoners. Yet when he got the opportunity, he did not miss asking for help from the butler and the chief of the bakers. At that point, he too must have been tired and 'concerned' about the ways of God but at the end of the day God came through putting Joseph on display as one of His masterpiece displaying His craftsmanship. He will do the same with you if you hold on.
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