2009 - Day 11 - Grace To Endure

January 11, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Grace To Endure

Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 – 41: 1 ... 40: 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 41: 1 … 1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.

My Journal for Today: Okay, yesterday, and repeated today, we were reminded about the story of our protagonist, Joseph, being passed over and forgotten by the cupbearer when Pharaoh’s butler was released from prison. Joseph had confidently told him of God’s interpretation of the dream which would have this man being forgiven by Pharaoh. And when the cupbearer was released as the dream had indicated, Joseph had to have thought, “Well, here’s my ticket out of here.”

But as Swindoll in his devotional book for today reminds us, Joseph waited and waited and waited. For TWO LONG YEARS he waited; and it would have been very human for him to think, “What gives, God? Why am I being left behind in here?” But he didn’t think that. For those two years, as Swindoll writes, “This remarkable man … continued to wait – to trust – to hope – and to lean on God.” And any of us who have felt or now feel like we’ve been passed over or mistreated or put down, need to see this example of Godly patience in action. As we should know from the truth of 1st Cor. 10: 13 (and you really need to have that one memorized and internalized), God will always give us the grace of endurance if we believe and recognize that He would not have us go through any trial without our being able to, with His faithful help, handle the test.

As I said yesterday, and it’s worthy of repeating, … when we’re being tested by the trials of life, we have to intentionally go into an expectant waiting mode, knowing God’s truth (as we need to have verses like, and I repeat Romans 8: 28 or Proverbs 3: 5, 6 or a Hebrews 13: 5 deeply imbedded in our heart) that He will never abandon us and He always is using our life circumstances to prepare us for HIS future plans and to shape us into HIS image [see Phil. 1: 6]. Instead of relenting to the very natural tendency to say “WHY,” we need to be asking, “WHAT, Lord, do you want me to learn from this which makes me more like You?”

Oh, I know that’s a tough attitude to take or to have. Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we don’t want to have to take on God’s cup of trial or testing; but if it’s to be, we have to have our Lord’s, and Joseph’s, attitude of “If it’s Your will, Father, I accept it.”

Two more long years did Joseph languish in that prison where he had been thrown unjustly. Think about it … two more years in that dark, dank, dungeon. Yet, with God’s enabling grace, giving Joseph the power to endure, he waited as God shaped him by this experience. For what he didn’t know; but God’s grace of endurance did allow Joseph to trust that God was testing him through the caldron of life to burn off some dross from his soul, purifying and preparing him for some Godly purpose ahead.

Oh, how I pray that I can have this patient endurance when the tests/trials of life come in the future, no matter how harsh or unjust (from man’s viewpoint) they might be. May I wait and have the hope of a Joseph that I’m being prepared for God’s purposes in His time and in His way.

My Prayer Today: Oh, I don’t want tough trials, Lord; but if they are what You need to shape me to be more like You, bring them on; and give me Your grace of patience to endure. Amen