When Things Go Against You Genesis 42:29–38 Someone has said, “When you finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s probably a train.” When we experience disappointment, we have difficulty interpreting our circumstances. It feels as if everyone and everything have joined forces against us. This was how Jacob felt when his sons asked for permission to take their youngest brother Benjamin back to Egypt with them. Jacob complained, “Everything is against me!” (Gen. 42:36). Jacob was right about one thing. All this adversity was part of a plot. In fact, it was actually part of a double plot. Joseph was testing his brothers, perhaps in order to see whether they had changed since the day they sold him into slavery. But God was also at work in Joseph’s design, orchestrating the circumstances that would eventually bring Jacob and his entire family down to Egypt. In the short term, this was intended to preserve their lives during a time of severe famine. God’s long-term goal in all of this was even greater. These events set the stage for the transformation of Jacob’s small tribe of a few families into a great nation. In Egypt Jacob’s descendants would experience both blessing and adversity. Blessing would mark them as God’s chosen people. Adversity would prompt them to cry out to God for a deliverer named Moses, who would lead them to the brink of the land of promise. Moses in turn would point Jacob’s descendants to an even greater deliverer. This deliverer was Jesus Christ (Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22–26). Jacob and his sons had no way of knowing that all these circumstances that seemed to be against them were really part of a much larger plan that would eventually include us. God was at work in all these adverse circumstances, not only working them out for Jacob’s good but for ours as well. When everything seems to be going against you, take Corrie ten Boom’s advice: “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and get off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 ~ Today in the Word ~
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 12:53:21 +0000
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