JOSEPH

JOSEPH

                He had every reason to believe that life was over for him. His earlier visions and dreams now lay in the dust. His brothers had made sure of that. And where was God anyway. Why would God bother to give him visions and dreams just to see it all crumble into nothingness?

                With Egypt on the horizon, he slouched on the camel’s miserable back, thirsty, tired, ropes chaffing his arms and legs. Sold as a slave…lightyears from home… who was this God of his father anyway? Abraham had been blessed. Isaac had been blessed… even his father Jacob had eventually been blessed… and now this. Had he not been a child of promise?  Had he not received visions and dreams of a bright future? How had he ended up as a common slave on his way to Egypt, captive of a Midianite band? Or were they Ishmaelites? It had been both, but who cared? It was the Midianites that ended up selling him to Potiphar… a million miles from his destiny.

                Have you ever felt like you are on the wrong track? Like you accidently hopped the wrong train and you are speeding through the night… away from your destiny rather than toward it. A grinding knot in the pit of your stomach has you wondering what to do. Too late to call the engineer and tell him you want off. Now you are on a speeding train and going in the wrong direction. The lights on the engine ahead tell you that you are passing through a vast wilderness… steep mountain passes   and dark churning rivers.

                At least Joseph had his brothers to blame, but you… you got yourself into this mess. You made some wrong choices… some bad decisions….some careless mistakes. Is there any hope for you?        

                The Bible is full of characters… all of them called by God… all of them destined for greatness… all of them on the wrong track. Daniel… a captive in Babylon.  David… a fugitive, anointed to be king, but for now he is being hunted down by a king who had no intention of abdicating his throne. Jeremiah… anointed to be a prophet who for his youthfulness was afraid that he would not be taken seriously.  Noah? Building an ark in the middle of nowhere? Really? And 120 years later it still hasn’t rained. What a fool he had been to believe that a mere man can actually hear God’s voice.

                Then there was Abraham, housing his beautiful wife in a tent. Far from their nice home in Ur, and he never did get to live in the Promised Land. Moses… called to be the deliverer of Israel… now herding sheep in the wilderness of Arabia for a Midianite priest. Yes, he had blown it big time. So, in spite of his previous good intentions, fate had left him far from the palace… a fugitive on the run and 40 years later he is a lowly shepherd and nothing more… or so he thought.

                As we read about God’s heroes, we begin to see a pattern. Before fame, there is obscurity. Before success, there is failure. Before teaching others, there are lessons to learn… hard ones… and those who end up serving God must first be forged in the crucible of fire, of hopelessness and despair. We go to the palace by way of the pit. We have been anointed with the oil of purpose … destined to be kings… but our training ground is in the wilderness.

                If you want to be in God’s faith hall of fame, you have to be willing to take some hard knocks, fight some lonely battles, find your one true destiny in a forest of opinions…   find that one true voice amidst the cacophony  of voices.

                Joseph could very well have concluded that there was nothing to his dreams and visions… nothing to the God of his father… nothing to being a son of Israel. All of that was behind him. Why not go ahead and take up with Potiphar’s wife. True, he would be a slave, but with side benefits. If he gave her what she wanted, who knows? maybe she would let him in on a little of the good life.

                Daniel could have concluded the same thing. He had been part of the royal family of Israel. His relatives had refused to listen to the prophets and now they were in exile. But he had ended up in the courts of the king. Maybe if he played his cards right, he could climb the ladder, join the jet set … play the field.

                Esther could have done the same… but what did all of these men and women in God’s faith hall of fame have in common? They continued to be God’s people even in times of despair and adversity. And it was their faith in the one true God that became their guiding light… their sense of purpose when there seemed to be no purpose.

                When tough times hit, it is easy to conclude that maybe God isn’t in it at all. We have been chasing rainbows. Our visions and dreams have turned out to be delusions and now we feel like we are on that runaway train to nowhere. But the Lord said to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  (Jer. 1:5) God, who knows the end from the beginning, called you even while knowing full well your wilderness experience, your doubts and fears, your running from and to His purposes. He knew it all before He called you. And He set it up to be your training ground… your boot camp… your preparation.

                In spite of his many trials and tribulations (some caused by others and some of his own making) David finally got it when he cried out: “Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Thy hand will lead me and thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be night, even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee.” Psalms 139:7-12

                Then David, finely comprehending the omnipresence and the omniscience of God admits it: “Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they are all written, the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How vast the sum of them! Ps. 139:16, 17.

                We don’t realize it, but we may be living in a time just like these people did. In a way we have lived in a magical golden age… in a privileged country where we have access to everything we desire. We have grown up during times of relative ease and prosperity. But we also live in a volatile time when everything we have ever known could be taken away overnight.

                Those of you who are able to read what I write from the comfort of your homes, do you have any idea how many desperate pleas I receive every day from places like Pakistan, or Ghana, or Kenya? Do you know how many destitute people are trying not only to survive themselves, but to feed and clothe a dozen orphans as well? It breaks my heart. I receive almost daily pleas for help from these desperate places where they go to bed hungry every night. I receive invitations to come and to pastor them and teach them. They are flocks with no shepherd… hanging on to their faith in God amidst persecution and hunger and threats of death.

                Right now my writing ministry is beginning to snowball. I receive on average 100 to 150 friendship requests every day. Many of them want to converse, but to do so in any meaningful way would have me on my computer around the clock. All I can do is pray for them… and to realize in my heart that according to Bible prophecy, if we are true Christians we too may soon face some of the hardships that these people overseas are going through.

                We are fair weather Christians who know no hunger and no persecution. We are worried about eating organic, grass fed, cage free, non-GMO food, while over half of the world’s population would be truly grateful for a bowl of rice.

                If I sound a bit overwhelmed right now… well… maybe I am, because I am forced to see life from many different perspectives and I pray constantly that the Holy Spirit will give me living water to share with those who are thirsty. Lord, help me today to say something to those who may feel like they have been on the wrong train. Give me a word of encouragement for those who know they need to repent and to turn around. Give me living water for those who are just now passing through the wilderness and wondering what it all means.

                Just know this: God knew your unformed substance and He knew all of your days before there were even one of them. You may think that you are on a train to nowhere. You may think that the things you are going through make no sense. Surely God has left you to wallow in your own sins and mistakes. Surely He has unhooked your heavenly GPS and you are now free-wheeling it without purpose.

                But that is a lie. Hard times are God’s training ground, even if they are caused by our own stubbornness or wrong turns. Repentance then means to turn your face toward God… to know that He will cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes. (Rom 8:28) The road to your purpose and destiny may often lead you through wilderness places. There you learn to be still and know that He is God. There you learn that the Christian life isn’t always easy… in fact, if you are following Yeshua, you will face the same kinds of things that He faced.

                Don’t let adversity scare you… let it prepare you. “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (And you are a son or daughter in the making) For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it,  in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now and not only this but also we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. “Romans 8:19-23

                God created us to rule over His physical creation. So when we fell… when we defected and sided with Satan, God had to subject His perfect creation to futility as well. Why? So that this physical creation would become our training ground, so that when he has made us once again into His sons and daughters and trained us properly to once again rule over His creation, then He will restore the creation as well and sin and sickness and death will be done away with.

                For now, these adversities are the very things that are teaching us to rule and reign with Christ in the world to come. Yeshua came to earth. He went through it for us. He went through it both as our substitute and our example. He told us that the more we reflected His image, the more adversity we would face because we, at present live in enemy territory. We must overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

                God does not abandon us in our adversities or even in our sins and mistakes. That is perhaps when He is the closest to us, urging us to place more of our faith in Him… never leaving us or forsaking us, He is training us as sons and daughters… royalty… co-rulers of a new creation. We are in training to replace the angels that fell and more than that, we have been uniquely created to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual realms. That is why we are created body, soul and spirit.

                We are a spirit, that dwells in a body and we have a soul (something that angels don’t have) to bridge the gap between the physical and spiritual realms. In choosing in our flesh to serve the spirit rather than the flesh then we are learning how to have dominion over creation, first in our own bodies and then in the world at large.

                As God’s remnant people we have got to get these perspectives and to understand them, or we will just get caught up in meaningless routines, serving God with no understanding of His purposes. And Satan has done a number on the church by weakening the powerful aspects of the Gospel and by removing us from our prophetic understanding of His purposes. Our vision has been cut off and so much of what we do in Christianity is self-serving and comfortable.

                We occupy our thoughts with whether the air conditioning is too cold or the heat too hot or if we have gotten enough recognition for the little things we have done.

                Well, I suspect that all of this is going to change, because in truth we are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm and God is not looking for comfortable Christians. He is looking for sons and daughters that look like Jesus. ..Like David… like Daniel… like Esther… like Joseph.

                When Job was co-miserating with his friends God stepped in and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge: Now gird up your loins like a man and I will ask you and you instruct Me! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me if you have understanding.” Job 38:3, 4. There are revelations in Job 38 that would astound you if you understood their implications.

                In the midst of his trials, Job had lost his perspective and we, living in earth’s last hours have lost our perspective as well. We have abandoned a prophetic view of God’s plans. We no longer talk about the beginning or the end, or the overriding purposes of God for mankind… for creation… for eternity.

                Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Instead, seek a broader understanding of God’s plans and purposes for creation and then you will begin to see your own life as a part of that plan. Selah.