"What Is God Doing?"
Recently I came across a passage in Ecclesiastes that really caught my attention. In chapter 11 verse 5, Solomon advises his readers:
Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,
or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,
so you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.
If someone lives long enough (like Solomon did), it’s likely they will realize that sometimes they really don’t understand what God is doing. When faced with a serious health diagnosis, financial crisis, heartbreak over a child, the “wrong” outcome of an election, or a myriad of other developments in our lives, we may be left saying, “Wow, God, I just don’t get it.”
The story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, illustrates this well. It may have seemed to young Joseph that everything was going his way. Besides being his father’s favorite, God gave him dreams of others bowing down to him. It must have felt great to be in the center of God’s will!
Joseph’s story quickly takes a turn when he is sold (by his own brothers!) as a slave into Egypt. The Bible doesn’t tell us what Joseph was thinking at that time, but it’s doubtful he was singing praises and saying, “Thanks, God, for letting me be thrown into this nasty pit and sold to this dirty bunch of pagans! Not exactly the fulfillment of my dreams.”
Don’t you imagine Joseph questioned God’s will for his life? As a teenager imprisoned far from home, likely he felt alone and scared.
In Egypt, Joseph’s life as a slave began to improve. He even rose to a position of authority. He may have said, “Now, I know God has this under control!”
Soon Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, and he found himself in prison. “God, where are You now? I was trying to do the right thing.”
While imprisoned he interprets dreams for two other prisoners. One prisoner promises to remember him, but alas, does not. Again, Joseph may have found it hard to believe God was involved in the events going on around him.
However, years before the LORD told his great grandfather Abram,
Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.[i]
After Joseph had been in prison for years (maybe questioning God), he was paroled to work in the king’s palace. There God used circumstances in Joseph’s life to bring the entire family of Israel (Jacob) to Egypt.
With our 20/20 vision we can see God’s fingerprints all over Joseph’s experiences. However, it is doubtful Joseph was quite so visionary during his day-in and day-out life in the pit or in the Egyptian prison.
In fact, the complete story does not come into focus for 400 years when the Children of Israel are led from Egypt toward the Promised Land. From our perspective, we see Joseph played an important role in God’s preserving the Jewish people – despite his everyday sufferings and confusion during the dark times.
Allow me to weave another story that in my “sanctified imagination” may have happened about 2000 years after Joseph. I’ll call my protagonists Ari and Hannah. Elderly and godly, they have sought to serve God their entire lives in Bethlehem.
Now advanced in years, mobility has become difficult. Much to their surprise they receive notification they must register for a Roman census, requiring many miles of travel to the land of their ancestors in Galilee. This will be a difficult journey, especially for Hannah who suffers from arthritis and a heart condition. They wonder, God, what are you doing to us? Why are you letting this happen to us at this stage in our lives?
On the road north they pass a couple traveling in the opposite direction. Traveling is difficult for them as well, for the young wife is very pregnant.
Greetings are exchanged. Ari and Hannah discover the couple is traveling to where they had just come – Bethlehem. What a coincidence?
What they couldn’t know is that their terribly inconvenient and dangerous trip (for increased taxes, no less) was in fact part of God working out an ancient prophecy recorded in in the Hebrew Bible:
Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
One will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for Me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from eternity.[ii]
The stories of both Joseph and our imaginary couple, Ari and Hannah, illustrate a lesson we all need to learn: God is the Sovereign King of the universe and His plans are much bigger than yours or mine.
This means that even when certain aspects of our lives do not appear as we think they should, we can find comfort in realizing that each piece of the puzzle will be used in the end to bring about God’s beautiful and perfect will.
Ultimately, God will be glorified. We may not see it in our lifetime but have no doubt – God’s plan is unfolding according to His eternal purposes.
Written by Winn, LIFE staff
Footnotes:
[i] Genesis 15:13-14.
[ii] Micah 5:2.
NOTE: All Scripture references are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
Who doesn’t love “happily ever after” stories – especially when the heroes triumph after enduring significant trauma and tragedy?
Where are you in your story? If you’re in a pleasant chapter, how is God using you to be of help and encouragement to those struggling around you?
If you’re in a dark time, are you looking to God to be the “lifter of your head” when doubts and discouragement close in?
Scripture is filled with reminders that the Sovereign of the Universe is in control, even when our world seems to be spinning off its axis. “I choose to trust you, Lord” is a fitting prayer for every chapter of life. In the end, “God wins!” – and His plans for those who love Him exceed our wildest dreams. (See 1 Corinthians 2:9.)