Traveling through this world we can get lost on the journey and the agony of life. We sometimes forget that there is a world and life to come to those who trust and believe in the promise and the great redemptive act of God done by His son Jesus. One of my most cherished Bible scriptures is the promise in John 16:33 …in this world we will have sorrow, suffering, pain, and trials but we are to be courageous because God has overcome this world.
The biblical account of Joseph is a prime example of trust and courageous overcoming. Born the last and most cherished son into a family of many, he was cast into a pit, betrayed, and sold into slavery. Still Joseph trusted God. And… that was only the beginning of a life of continued pain and destruction that his life journey would endure. Joseph continued to stand faithful to the end. Most of us today would have thought that God had abandoned us. What did we do wrong?
As I have had the opportunity to travel the world, I have heard, read reports, and seen for myself the many victims of cruelty that exist in our world globally. Children who are still sold by their families into slavery and endless accounts of violence that are done to men, women and children. It truly is demonic. What I find even more amazing, though, is how God can take a tortured individual and turn their lives around with His redemptive power if we allow Him to work His plan in us. Poverty, pain, suffering may still exist, but they have no sting when Christ enters.
In Psalms 105 16 – 22, King David wrote: He (God) called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food and he sent a man before them – Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household ruler over all he possessed to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.
Has God given you a mission or vision? Are you willing to stand and prove Him true?
God’s purposes and ways are a continual mystery to me, but I like Joseph have chosen to trust and acknowledge Him in all His ways.
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
