Tag: Perfect will

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Circuitous ways of God.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭45‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

From a dreamer, to a pit and prison, then second to the Pharaoh. How does God do it?

God didn’t make Joesph naively, arrogantly, tattle on his older brothers nor blab his extraordinary dream to them. God didn’t make the brothers HATE their spoiled, aka, “well loved” son of Rachel & favorite in the family. God didn’t make Jacob send the young lad to spy on his boys. God didn’t make the boys decide to kill the dreamer and throw him into a pit. God didn’t make Judah convince his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery and make some extra money.

Then there’s the whole providential encounter with Potiphar who happened to be captain of the guard for Pharaoh. Potiphar, seeing Joseph’s potential and God’s blessing, promoted him to manage his entire estate! Of course Potiphar’s wife had other plans and entrapped him, forcing Potiphar to save face and throw Joseph into the king’s prison.

All along God was working out timing and details to position Joseph where he needed to be, when he needed him to be there. That timing meant that Joseph had to wait it out in prison, being passed by even though he had become skilled in interpreting dreams. Finally the time came when the Pharaoh had a very disturbing dream, a dream, he knew was critical for his life and the lives of those he ruled over. The king’s cupbearer remembers Joseph and Pharaoh sends for him.

Joseph had learned humility, and lots of patience. Joseph had spent 10 years as a slave and 3 years as a prisoner. 13 years for God to build character in Joseph and put together an extraordinary plan to save Israel. Joseph confidently told the Pharaoh, “It is beyond my power to do this, but God can tell you what it means and set you at ease,” (Genesis‬ ‭41‬:‭16‬).

We look at the incredible success story of Joseph and often forget the difficult seasons for God’s plans to come together – PERFECTLY! God’s timing is amazing. This is why Joseph, when looking back on his life and all the pain-points had time to process what had to happen – “It was God who sent me here ahead of time!” Humans did what humans do, but God used every moment to fulfill His will!

Are you facing a difficult season in your life? God has not abandoned you. He is with you. It may very well be a part of plan that requires seasons of waiting or even suffering. Have you come through a time that was horribly dark and you felt your life was over and all your dreams were crushed? Looking back, can you now see some purpose, or timing of why things happened the way they did? I pray you see God’s hand of provision and purpose in your previous shadows. God knows and sees, and ultimately has purpose in everything, even if we can’t immediately see it. Trusting Him and staying very close, keeping our heart open and soft builds our faith and protects us from bitterness, blame and anger.

Prayer

​Dad,
When I was young I would have never been able to see the providential opportunity in Joseph’s story. Yet, now that I am older, I not only see it clearly, I am able to understand through my own experiences of frustration, confusion and lots of questions with no answers. Trusting you, kept me sane. Leaning into you, kept my heart soft. Listening to your Word and being obedient, helped me forgive and release those who hurt me. I am thankful for your timing – it is not only perfect, it is beautiful. Amen.

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Perfect plans

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord.” Proverbs‬ ‭21‬:‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There is both comfort and mystery in this Proverb. It is a mind-boggling proposition to think of the entirety of human existence and total creation of all that exists being examined, challenged or micro-managed from our limited vantage point. Actually, it’s hubris to imagine that we could even begin to understand it. These concepts come under huge words like omniscience, omnipresent, and omnipotent – all knowing, all present and all powerful. The sovereignty of God!

These are big words to understand by us as eternal beings, who are very limited to our physical experience here on earth as created beings. God’s full foreknowledge of everything from OUR physical beginning to our physical end is nearly impossible for us to grasp. Super smart folks can think about someone or something outside of time itself, because time is also a created construct, but honestly, I can’t.

God being above or outside of all creation, means that everything is NOW. All our past is now, our present is now and our future is now. And, I’m not talking about my past, present and future, I’m talking about all of creation! Right there, just thinking about God being outside of time gives a glimpse of the mystery of this proverb. No human “anything” can stand against the Lord. And, neither can any other created thing or being stand against the Lord – even created angels for example. Angels, Satan being one of those, are created beings! They are not omni anything. This word, sovereignty, has been argued about and misapplied for eons! Does God’s foresight and foreknowledge mean that He made it happen – that God determined that it happen? That’s the big question of God’s sovereignty versus humans free will. The theological understanding of eternal security verses human choice or the ability to not believe nor submit to God’s will is a difficult conundrum. This paradox appears to look like God predetermined His acceptance of some and rejection of others.

You should see how this verse touches on this very old argument about God’s sovereignty! If God’s will is that you be saved, can you reject Him? If God’s will is that you be rejected, can you be saved? Hard huh? There are whole groups of people, whole denominations, that are oppositional on this very thing. And they’ve been arguing, disagreeing and divisive about it for hundreds of years.

Where am I on this? What do I believe? I believe in God’s total sovereignty! There’s no way I see the Bible declaring anything contrary. However, I believe in foreknowledge, God’s total knowledge of all things, all decisions. This does not mean that God forced, or made humans to decide one way or another. This comes up most often with two characters in the Bible, Pharaoh and Judas! Moses told us that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the gospels pretty much tell us that Judas was born to betray. Ah, but who knows the human heart and the decisions that those men made at the time. Only God knows that. Who’s to say that they made decisions against God’s will while God continued to convince them otherwise, right up the end of their life. Sooner or later, everyone who believes in God must reconcile this question of how God’s sovereignty works in our our lives beyond just salvation. It should also be settled in our everyday occurrences of pain and suffering. Is there determination behind our tragedies? Is there purpose in our loss and grief when unfathomable evil snatches our loved ones from this planet? I have settled such questions, have you?

Prayer

Dad,
I am thankful that I have only had to settle two big thoughts about your sovereignty. One, I believe you are always right, true and just. And two, I believe I can trust you no matter what circumstances or culture says about who you are. You have always been good and faithful in my life and I have no reason to doubt you in my future.