We all find ourselves in situations sometimes that we didn’t ask or plan for. Maybe a friend betrayed us and left our side even when they vowed that they wouldn’t. Maybe you decided to go back to school but it’s harder than you thought and you don’t know if you should continue or quit. Maybe you wrecked the car and now you have no form of transportation and you even still owe money on it. Maybe a loved one died. Maybe it’s the loss of a job. Maybe it’s a divorce. Maybe it’s a child that isn’t making the best of choices.
These situations that seem to come up out of nowhere and blindside us tend to hurt our trust. Out trust in other people. Our trust in a friend. Our trust in ourselves. Our trust in God.
As I was looking at a story in the Bible as a part of a lesson that I am teaching at my church something jumped out at me that I wanted to share with you.
In the book Genesis 37, we meet a boy by the name of Joseph. He is the youngest of 12 boys (can you imagine that) and it is implied that he is his father Jacob’s favorite. Joseph gets a coat and that doesn’t help his status with his brothers any. Joseph also had dreams and told his brothers about those as well and that didn’t help either. So they get really mad at him and decide to throw him in a hole and leave him for dead. But then they decide to sell him to some passing merchants. He gets taken to Egypt where he finds himself in the house of Potiphar. While there he finds favor with Potiphar and gets put in charge of Potiphar’s house. But soon Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph and when he wouldn’t she accused him of trying to sleep with her anyway. So Potiphar gets angry with Joseph and throws him jail. While in jail he meets two dudes who were cup bearer and baker for the king. But they had upset him so he threw them in jail. Joseph was put in charge of the other jailers and was looked at highly. But Joseph has a thing for dreams and been blessed with the gift to interpret them. So he interprets the dreams of the baker and cup bearer. Joseph asks the cup bearer to remember him when Pharaoh restores him to his position. But then we read....
“The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”
Genesis 40:23 NIV
Maybe this is how you feel about God right now. Maybe you feel the situation that you are facing is because God has forgotten you. The situation has made you feel like God is distant or inactive or has left you high and dry. I am sure that Joseph felt this way. I bet Joseph feeling all alone and abandoned there in jail started to shake his fist at God.
But God had not abandoned Joseph. God had not left Joseph high and dry. God was not inactive. I want you to see this. This was so powerful for me. I have read this verse so many times, but I have read it from the standpoint of what had just happened in Genesis 40:30. The very next verse reads....
“When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream:” - Genesis 41:1 NIV
God wasn’t inactive. God hadn’t abandoned Joseph. God was working all the time. God knew where Joseph needed to be and why. God knew that Joseph needed to wait for Pharaoh to have that dream for His plan to continue for Joseph.
God isn’t inactive. God hasn’t abandoned you. God is still working. God knows what the end of the game looks like. God knows why you are facing the situation you are - because it’s a part of plan and His positioning you for something better. But most of the time we are waiting and that’s where we get frustrated. Sometimes we may have to wait a month or a year or 5 years to see how God will use the situation we are in.
But God is faithful. Nothing we face is wasted. Everything we face has a purpose and a reason. You don’t know how what you are facing now will one day help you help someone else.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”
Genesis 50:20 NLT
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