Difficult Journeys

I have a confession to make. I’m not a Native Texan. I know, it’s hard for me to believe too. Before moving to San Antonio in December of 1981, we actually lived in Huntsville, Alabama. One of my favorite activities in Huntsville was visiting the NASA training facility.
Among the many attractions they had. there was one in particular that I absolutely loved. It was a giant pendulum type device and on one end it was anchored to a pivot head while on the other, there was a chair to which a gigantic spring had been welded. The device simulated the moon’s gravity and after you got yourself going, you could really get some monster bounces.

I didn’t understand at the time that this contraption had a purpose. For me it was simply a mode of entertainment. It was not until I was older that I realized that this piece of equipment had been designed to prepare astronauts for the unexpected and unsettling environment into which they were about to be thrust. Their success or failure hinged on their ability to perform their assigned tasks once they reached their destination.

I wish sometimes that life were that way. How many times have we gone through a situation where we thought “God, couldn’t You have warned me? Could You not have prepared me better?”

It’s not a new thought process by any means. In Genesis chapter 37, a series of events is put into motion that forever changes the life of a young boy. Joseph, the baby of the family, is known as Daddy’s favorite, the dreamer, the one with the fancy coat.

One day his father sends him to find his brothers, and in their jealousy, they decide the best thing to do is kill him. Yet one brother, Ruben, convinces the others to spare his life. When Joseph arrives in their camp, the brothers put their plan into motion. Verse 23, ” When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern.” (MSG)

You have to wonder at that point what Joseph was thinking. I’m sure at first it seemed like a joke. No doubt this was simply some sort of brotherly prank. Joseph probably wasn’t overly worried at first. Then he hears the caravan of Ishmaelite traders passing by. Hushed conversation is taking place above. A strange face pokes itself over the rim of the cistern and glares down at him. Beside it, the faces of his brothers. He looks into their eyes and he knows that this is something far more treacherous.

We can only imagine the horror that Joseph must have felt when he was hauled out of the cistern, bound, and handed over as a slave. How his mind must have raced on the walk from Israel to Egypt. As the days turned into weeks and each step he took brought him further from his home and family, no doubt Joseph’s soul screamed out to God for deliverance. And yet, inexplicably he found himself on the trading block being sold into a life of slavery in a foreign land.

Can you imagine what he must have felt? Hopelessness? Isolation? Despair? Soon Joseph meets his new master and is brought to serve Potiphar. The scriptures tell us that God was with Joseph and that he found favor with Potiphar. In chapter 39, things are going well for Joseph. Until he has an encounter with Potiphar’s wife. We all know the story. She attempted to seduce him, he refused, and in her anger, she accused him of attempting to force himself on her. Joseph is once again bound and now he is dragged off to prison.

Can you imagine what he must have felt this time? Here God has been working in his life, things have improved. Sure not everything as was as perfect as it was before, but still it was better than prison! What was the point of this? If God wanted him to rot in a cell, why not just leave him in the cistern in Israel? At least there Joseph would die in his own land!

Then God did something weird. The gift of dreaming that had caused his brothers’ jealousy in the first place, was used to not only free Joseph from prison, but to elevate him to the second highest office in all of Egypt. God took the situation Joseph was in and used the sin and bad intentions of others to bring about good.

It makes you wonder if perhaps I asked the wrong question before. Maybe it's not "Why didn't God help me prepare for this", it's more, "God SHOW me how you've prepared me to deal with this."

There’s something vital we need to understand about this story. Joseph wound up suffering because of the sin of other people. God did not CAUSE those people to sin. This is a HUGE theological idea you need to grasp. Sin is a CHOICE. It is something we willfully do. When situations occur in which we suffer from the sin of others, it is not God who is to blame. Yet, in those situations, God can take what was meant as evil, acts of hatred directed against us, and turn them around and use them to elevate us in ways we never thought possible.

As it was with Joseph, when we look at our past and examine those experiences which seemed insignificant or inconvenient at the time, we realize that God was working then to prepare us for the trials we would inevitably encounter. The blessing of being a Christian is not that bad things never happen to us. The blessing is that God takes those things which Satan intends to use to destroy us and He uses them to build us up, strengthen us, and bring us through stronger and wholly restored.

Last Sunday, Pastor Rick shared with us the story of the last supper. In it, he reminded us of the words of Christ in John Chapter 14. 1"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (NASB)

Regardless of where we are led in life, always remember that NOTHING can alter our final destination.

Prayer: That God would help you see His hand in the rearview mirror of your life, and that He would prepare you now for those things in your future that Satan intends to use for evil.

Suggested Scriptures: John Chapter 14, Genesis Chapter 37, & 39-45.