At times, life really seems to be challenging, overwhelming, and sometimes just plain devastating, as unimaginable events come along and threaten to shatter the dreams we have worked so hard toward. It becomes harder to trust God, especially when many such powerful, negative events happen all at once. One might start to doubt and wonder if the prosperity and blessings promised in the Bible will ever come.
I think of Joseph and how his brothers threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. Later, he was thrown into prison, after having been maliciously (and falsely) accused of something he didn’t do. Things must have looked terrible at that point and like they might never get any better. But God surely prospered Joseph, just as His word promises. Joseph later lived in the palace and became the second in command of all Egypt!
God didn’t promise a trouble-free life -- it's fallen world. Yet I have seen God prosper His servants even throughout their times of trouble. Isa 43:2 says: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”
I have noticed that, in the long term, the evils that God has allowed in my life never harm or affect God’s purposes for me and my life. Down the road, the evil that had looked so terrible at the time, turned out not to appreciably affect what God meant for me to do in my life. So, looking back, it didn’t even matter that the horrible events had occurred at all. They had been brought to nothing (by God of course!). Conversely, I have also noticed that whenever it was important for a certain good thing to happen in my life, God made it happen, and nothing could stop Him from bringing it to pass!!! :D
P.S. And just so everyone knows, one of my dreams is to prosper mightily, not so I can blow a fortune on myself, but so that I can use the resources to do great things for God and His kingdom! ^_^
13 comments:
Very true Aslan. i think that a lot of times we just expect ourlives to be so much easier (and by easier I mean utopicly problem free) and that's when Satan catches us so off guard. We forget that it is a war we're fighting, not a frolic in the meadow (that's for later, I suppose :) ) We also tend to think that just because things aren't going our way, something must be wrong, but in the end, it is all a part of His wonderful plan! I don't doubt that Joseph wondered if God was punishing him during his ordeal, but he trusted Him nonetheless! Amazing!
Rob: Yeah, I could use some frolicking right about now. :) It is definitely a war down here and so easy to forget that. :P! Though it might not feel wonderful, it is part of God's plan! Wasn't it C.S. Lewis who said that God conducts spiritual surgery and that it was often painful?
Blondie: Thanks! I'm glad you also like the music. Bill Brown has composed a lot of cool stuff! Nice to meet you! :)
ooo spiritual surgery... i like that!
I LOVE the story of Joseph, it's one of my favorites! so are those verses, too! very encouraging when trouble comes. I also love Psalms, like, "I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." isn't that awesome?
yay for CSL, I love his words of wisdom! :D
Lysha: Thanks! Yeah, C.S. Lewis always had a way with words, especially when describing all things Christian! :)
Truffle: Yeah, the story of Joseph is so inspiring! Sometimes God's promises are all we have to cling to! I don't know what I'd do without the Bible. Yeah, that is awsome! :D C. S. Lewis is so incredible...
Obi-Wan: I'm glad you like them! :) I'll talk about them in my next post!
Hey Aslan, that is so wierd about our dreams!!!! what do you think it could mean, other than perhaps we both have vivid imaginations and perhaps have many similarities???!! Very strange, but as I wrote in my comments, i so enjoyed having the experience... I found it to be very moving...
Hi Rob! Our dreams were not unlike what happened to Peter, Edmund, and Lucy at the end of C. S. Lewis's book, The Last Battle. But I had my dream before I read any of the Narnian books. Well, when one person has a dream like that, it is a wonderful thing indeed! But the fact that both of us had practically the same dream is almost scary! Lol. That makes me think it was more than just a dream. That such places do exist somewhere. It is almost as if God gave us a glimpse of Heaven, that perhaps we were there briefly, and that those are the feelings one has and some of the types of things one may do there. Only twice in my life have I had a dream that powerful (and that includes the one we’re talking about)! Very rare indeed. Yeah, you’re not kidding. That was the most fun I ever had in my life, and it was very motivating! :D
You're welcome Danika! :) Thanks for stopping by!
I shall post soon, but man am I busy right now! :P!
Mm. These dotty things are just tooooo fun! I'm coming here and then I forget to read your blog because I'm too busy playing with them XD.
Post again soon, okay? Yous hould post more, even if all you post is "I'm too busy to post so I'll just say hi!"
Hahahaha! Lol, Elai. Yeah, those beads are a blast. *cough* I play with them every time I get on my blog, and I'm still not tired of them. Heehee. :D
I'm posting again this weekend. Saturday I hope, but Sunday at the latest... :) I always try to do an essay style post (which takes more time), but that's a good idea. I'll give that a try. Some people are saying that shorter posts actually get more comments! :P!
At this point my next four posts would be:
Ohayô gozaimasu
Guten Tag
Hi and
Hola
Lol. ;)
You might get some foreign people commenting if you did that. Or I might come and stun you with my amazing Japanese-speaking powers. I could ask you how your dog is doing, if you have a dog.
Lol, ehhehehe.
I used to have dogs, but now I have cats. (We had birds too)! Maybe in Japanese all you have to do is swap nouns -- replace dog with cat. Hopefully, the verbs/articles, etc. don't change too. :P!
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