Steps and Stops

Today's Bible Reading: Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23

I was looking at some old notes on Gen 41-42 and found this quote from Pastor Chuck Smith. In looking at the life of Joseph and his predicament at the end of Ch. 40, it showed me how I often feel when just looking at my present circumstances and not being able to see the whole story. Here's a segment of Chuck's observations:

I'm sure, at this time, that Joseph had a glimmer of hope, thinking when this guy gets to the Pharaoh and tells him my story; surely, the Pharaoh will pardon me and I will split for home and get back to my father. That is exactly what God didn't want him to do. God didn't want him going home. He had a task for him to do here in Egypt. So God allowed the butler to forget about Joseph. For two years Joseph continued there in the prison, forgotten by the butler.

These two years must have seemed like an eternity to Joseph. They say that Einstein discovered relativity or, at least, made the formula for it. According to the calculations, time is relative. When I am doing something I enjoy, time whizzes by; but, in the wrong circumstance it drags.

Imagine Joseph spending two years longer in the prison, time dragging on, days into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. Where is God? I believe, that Joseph was praying the whole while that God would free him, that God would plead his case, that God would work on his behalf. He trusted in God, but it seemed like heaven was silent, and that God was deaf. Surely, he had a right to challenge the goodness of God, the love of God; because Joseph couldn't see the end of the story. It's hard for us to get the full impact of it because we "know" the end of the story.

But what of our own stories - that still have chapters to be written? We may not know how the dramas of life will play out - but we know Who holds the script!

If you would close the book right here at the end of chapter forty, and say, "Boy what a sad thing, the butler has forgotten him." You could easily jump to the conclusion that God is not fair, that God is not good, that God is not loving. When you see the rest of the story unfolding as it begins to unfold in chapter forty-one, you say God is so good and you have a totally different concept of Him.

Now that is where the big problem lies, as we are in the midst of our trials we can't see the whole story.

Whenever you are prone, in your circumstances, to cry,"Everything is against me, God is against me, God doesn't love me. If God loved me, why?" Just know that you haven't seen the whole story yet. You have an incomplete novel here. God is working. God is good. God loves you and is working even in these adverse circumstances. His plan and His will for your life are for when the cycle is complete. When you see the total story, you will say, "God is so good! He is so wise and His works are marvelous."

God does see the whole picture and He is working out his plan! Ro. 8:28, Phil. 1:6, Eph. 2:10
Both your steps and stops are ordered by God!

Have a blessed day in Jesus! Hope to see you tonite for our continuing week of prayer.

In His Arm's, Pat