2009 - Day 16 - Don't Panic ... Trust

January 16, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Don’t Panic … Trust

Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 41 - 46 ... 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. 46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

My Journal for Today: Revisiting the same passage as we studied yesterday, Chuck Swindoll, in his devotional book, takes different view of the scenario I analyzed from the perspective of God’s intervention yesterday. Swindoll asks how this scene of the 30 year old becoming Prime Minister would have been viewed by the farmer in the field or the slave in the stone quarry of that day. He speculates, and accurately I believe, that this man of his time would have wondered why this young Hebrew dude would be elevated to the rank of 2nd in command in Egypt so suddenly.

Swindoll says such a man many have been saying or thinking, “Who does he (Joseph) think he is? Who did he bribe to get all of this?” And given this historical scenario, I certainly would be tempted to wonder what’s going on. Hey, right now I wonder what’s going on with a lot of the happenings in this world. Like Habakkuk did in his times, I wonder what God is doing allowing all the evil to unfold in our world – and even some carried out by so-called “christians.” Why does God let this evil be so pervasive in our culture and world. So, who am I to say that the man in the field in Joseph’s day should so easily have faith in something they can’t understand from the mind of God.

When Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt, that man in the field didn’t have a clue about where God had taken or was taking Joseph. He didn’t know about Joseph’s history … about how God had prepared and refined Joseph through all those trials in his life … how God had prepared Joseph to be right there at that time to save Egypt from a coming famine … how God was preparing Joseph for his future revisit of his brothers (more to come on that – stay tuned if you’re studying with me!).

When Habakkuk raised his questions to God about what was going on in his world (see Habakkuk, Chapter 1), God had to reveal to this Prophet that He, the Lord, was even going to allow the world to get far worse than it was at the time of Habakkuk’s lament. And often, as now in our world, we see bad stuff happening; and as it says in Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, we just don’t have insights into God’s mind and we don’t see the present, and most certainly the future, as God sees things.

But Habakkuk learned this lesson [see Hab. 3: 17], as should we. He learned what Joseph had come to learn at the point of our passage for today. They learned that no matter how bad things seem or may be projected to be for the future, God is in control; and we must avoid panic and trust, as we should know from Deut. 31: 6 in the OT and Hebrews 13: 5 in the NT, that God will never leave us, nor forsake us. No, as it says in Deut. 31: 8, God is even – and always – going on ahead in the lives of true believers to shape a God-ordained future for us.

The question is, do we learn from our lives that we must trust in a God, Who is God; and do we know that we are not God? Oh, from my own life, how many times have I wanted to be in control when I feel out of control? But there are times, like those times when Joseph was in prison, or when Habakkuk was so confused by the evil he saw in the world, or when I see stuff like pornography becoming so pervasive in our world; yes, there are times when we don’t – or won’t – have a clue as to what God is crafting in our world. So, we must simply follow His directions from His world and follow the prescription of Joshua 1: 8 or Proverbs 3: 5,6 or Phil. 4: 6-7 [and I hope you’ve memorized and internalize those passages].

In times like Joseph was in, even though the man in the field was clueless; … in times like we face today, when I’m clueless as to God’s design for the future, I’ve simply got to stay cool … and trust my God.

My Prayer Today: I do, my Lord. You are God, dear Jesus; and I am not! And I yield it all to You. Amen