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Wednesday, September 06, 2006
WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN
Have you ever felt so low that you thought that life could not possibly
get any worse - but then it DID? In Genesis 39, Joseph must have believed
his life couldn't possibly get any worse.
God had given Joseph dreams that he would be great one day, a glimpse of
a grand destiny - just as He gives us dreams of being great at football,
or becoming a successful teacher or doctor, or of performing on stage or
making a great invention. But when Joseph was sold as a slave, with no
rights at all, these dreams of what his life would be like seemed to have
been rudely interrupted - and he must have thought they were gone
forever.
Then things got even worse for him! When Joseph did the right thing by
fleeing temptation and refusing to sleep with his boss's wife, he got
thrown into jail (Genesis 39) and his destiny seemed even further away
than EVER! Why do things seem so unfair sometimes? When we obey God, one
WOULD think it would be just good manners on His part if He rewarded us
for our efforts, since it was already so hard to do the right thing! But
it doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes by doing right we just seem
to bring more trouble on ourselves.
But God wants to bless us and use us to bless others, and sometimes
hardships are a necessary part of the journey. He has a plan for each of us that will result in the most good to ourselves and the people around us. He has designed it so that this plan will come into effect when we make choices that obey God each step of the way. Some of these choices will lead to sad situations, but they are still in God's plan and are just stepping stones to greater things.
Just think what would have happened if Joseph hadn't tried so hard to do
the right thing. If he had given in to Potiphar's wife, he wouldn't have
gone to prison. But then he would have missed the opportunity to be used
by God to interpret Pharoah's dream (if you don't know the story, do read
it up) - and he wouldn't have risen to Prime Minister and been able to
save a whole country from famine! Obeying God led him to prison where he
got his 'big break'. Though it must have seemed to him at the time that
either he or God must have messed up somewhere, this was the correct path
after all. And, as it happened, it was the path that really did make him
great and by which he blessed a whole nation!
* * *
What I found most encouraging about this story was that Joseph didn't
know at all what was going to happen. When he obeyed God and did what he
knew was right, that automatically put him on the correct track, along
God's plan for him. It's wonderfully liberating that we are not expected
to be able to analyse our decisions and 'know how to' fulfil God's
destiny for us. All we have to do is act as God would have us act, and He
will take care to bring everything together.
Also, I saw that in life the choices we make should not be determined by
whether it makes us happy or sad for the moment - but rather by whether
they are right or wrong. This freed me from thinking that 'if my life
seems messed up, maybe it's because I did something wrong and God is
punishing me' - or from taking the sadness personally and wondering why
God is 'out to get me'. It could be that I'm on the right track and God
has planned this sadness for me in order to bring me to the next stage of
His plan! As Hsia Pin said, "Sometimes it seems like we're going
backwards - but God is just going to use it to bring us forwards again."
Like in the Coldplay song,
'You'll go backwards, but then
You'll go forwards again
You'll go backwards, but then
You'll go forwards'
So, it is true God's methods may seem a bit 'twisted' to us sometimes
when the big picture hasn't been revealed to us yet, but we can be
comforted that He is always very much in control of the whole situation
and that He has an order and a purpose for everything that happens to us,
even the sad things - the setbacks, the misunderstandings and
disappointments. At the end of Genesis, Joseph tells his brothers, "You
intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is
now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20) Our destiny in
God is a much bigger thing than forfeiting it for our personal happiness
or comfort at one point in time.
This reinforces what God has been speaking to me in my own quiet time
with Him - that when hardships and troubles come, we don't have to view
them as a personal attack - "Why is this happening to me? Can't you see
how hard it is for me, God? Why are you letting this happen and rewarding
my obedience with sad stuff?" but we can see them as another step in the
working out of God's destiny in our lives and trust that in time all will
become clear. And we don't have to fear that the pain we go through due
to our obedience to Him goes unnoticed or 'wasted', because every drop of
it has been counted by God and is being used in His plans for our
happiness!
- Joanna
the alleged @ 7:08 PM
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Leader's note
Homegroup 28/07/06: When Bad Things Happened To Jo...
Homegroup: Working Your Talent For the Glory Of God
Homegroup 05/08/2006
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