"All These Things Are Against Me!" -- No, They Are Not

"And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." (Genesis 42:36)

It's really easy to chuckle when reading this passage. Of course Joseph wasn't dead. Not only was he alive and well, he was reigning as second in command in Egypt.

Simeon was not dead, either. In fact, he was held as a promissory captive, if you will, so that the sons of Jacob would return to Egypt with Benjamin. No one suggested that Jacob was going to lose his son.

He had indeed lost Joseph, at least for an extended period of time, since all of his sons (except Benjamin) had deceived their father Jacob about his death.

Jacob and his sons were the only men on earth who possessed a covenant with the Living God. He assuredly promised to care for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and to deliver to their progeny the entire Promised Land. Nothing could hold back this essential promise. Nothing.

And yet ... Jacob looked at the all the hardships he was facing, and he concluded very succinctly: "All these things are against me."

Yet they were not.

This is the hardest lesson for me to learn. I guess I have not quite gotten there yet. Funny, but true. At this time, I face significant challenges on many fronts, and frankly I don't need to delve into details about it. Pastor Joseph Prince invited me and others to consider how Jacob must have felt in the midst of these incredible hardships. We know the story, so we can sit back and laugh.

But what if we are the ones who don't know what's going on? What if we are the ones who seem to think that everything is going against us? Can we rest in the promise that God our Loving Father is taking care of everything? Do we really believe that He holds us with both hands, and that He hangs the world on nothing? (Job 26:7)

I must admit that I find this calculation very difficult to accept. I want to have some idea of where I am going. Abraham wandered in the Promised Land, not having any idea where He was going (Hebrews 11:8), but He trusted that God was indeed guiding him.

The same Abraham who had not one child born of his lawful wife Sarah is today a father of many nations, and I am one of his children!

"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)

There is something in me that wants to rush God, to get Him to hurry up, too. I fear that there is a passage of time that I cannot recover from, too. That kind of thinking, of course, merely implies that He doesn't have everything figured out behind the scenes. We rest in Him, and we can take knowledge of the truth that He is working--actively, continuously, right now--in us, both to will and to do for His good will and pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)

As I write this post, I recognize how arrogant the assumptions become when we think that we--that I--have to hustle because God the Father, my loving Daddy God is not on the job. That kind of thinking belies the truth of who He is, for God is love, and He desires that I prosper and be in health (3 John 2).

God is at work behind the scenes. It is not my job to figure out what is going on or why. There is no benefit in my trying to get any idea as to where I am headed.

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, is He not?