Friday (1/2/2015)

Thought for the Day:

Again today I share a devotional written by Os Hillman entitled, “Seeing The Big Picture”

Genesis 42:36b  “... Everything is against me!”

“Eventually, Benjamin along with Jacob's other sons learned that their brother Joseph was second in command in Egypt. Joseph revealed his identity, and Jacob was reunited with his son whom he had not seen for more than 13 years. He had thought Joseph to be dead.”

“So often we believe our dreams are dead. There seems to be nothing left in our world to live for. Everything appears to be against us. During these times, God is doing His deepest behind-the-scenes work. During these times, God is performing a deeper work in each of us -- a work that cannot be seen.”

“When clients began leaving my ad agency and it dried up for no apparent reason, it appeared ‘everything was against me.’ I could not see that God was orchestrating a whole new calling on my life. At the moment, it seemed like the worst thing in the world. It seemed that I had been a failure. But God said, ‘No.’ All the years before had been preparation for what God's ultimate calling would be. One of God's methods for directing His children's steps is through drying up resources: a job loss, a career change, or a disaster. In these times we are willing to listen more intently, and to seek God in ways we would not normally do. C.S. Lewis once wrote, ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ [C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1962), 93.]”   [Os Hillman, January 2, 2015, Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Marketplace Leaders].

When things seem to be going wrong in our lives is the time that we should be listening more closely to God and trusting Him more deeply.  Sadly, the opposite is often true.  As things seem to crumble in our lives, we often withdraw within ourselves and stop looking upward.  I guess that our hope has dried up and we’ve grown tired of calling out to God, having not seen any apparent response to our cries.  Emotionally it is painful to encounter loss, grief, sorrow, death, major illness—whatever catastrophe has hit us—it hits hard!  When we are in those stretches we think, “My life is OVER!”  It is emotionally a bit over-the-top; but that is how we feel at the moment.  It is during these times that we must recall that although our lives may be a mess and everything feels out of control—that God is still God and He is still upon His throne.

As Hillman reminds us, we get pretty comfortable when everything is going fine.  So if God wants to do a major work in our lives, He’s going to have to stir the pot!  God takes the good, the bad, and the ugly and can use it for His plan for us.  Remember that!

So instead of crying out for rescue in desperation, call out to God for wisdom and peace.  Look for His hand of provision and guidance in the midst of turmoil.  Believe that He is at work behind the scenes.  Maintain your faith and trust in Him no matter what you face.  As believers we testify to the fact that God is sovereign; so then we should respond to life’s difficulties as if that is true.

I know that is easier said than done at times.  When you feel like “everything is against me” remember that God is not.  He is on your side, working behind the scenes to bring about a positive result.  We must remember that our concept of what is best may not line up with what God thinks is best.  The path He leads us on may be a difficult, broken path filled with hardship and heartache; but His ultimate goal is not to make our lives easy and happy.  It is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ—making us perfect and complete.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10    “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”