Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Seeing things as God sees them


My big problem is that I can't see clearly. I'm not talking about my eyes....I'm talking about perspective. I can't see things in the same way God does. I can't see what he's doing. I can't see the plan. I can't see his goal. I can't see how my situation is going to work out. I simply can't see clearly.
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That reality became clear to me as I read the words of another man who had to feel the same way as he went through years of not being able to see what God was doing. This man found himself sold into slavery, lied about by his owner's wife, thrown into prison and then stuck there for a number of years. In fact, from the time he was sold from freedom into slavery it was 11 years before he saw what God was doing. I can't imagine enduring 11 years of not knowing what God is really doing in your life, but trusting him anyway. Here are his words to his brothers as he explains what he knows as he finally sees things from God's perspective-
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Genesis 45: 4-8 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
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Isn't it interesting when you finally see what God is up to? Suddenly all our misconceptions vaporize and we see clearly....we see God's plan. We see things as He sees them. It must have seemed that God had abandoned him in Egypt. For more than 10 years God didn't tell him what he was up to. Joseph had to simply trust. But then, suddenly, it all becomes clear! He was send by God, not sold by his brothers, to save his family. What might have caused bitterness because of not seeing it clearly now brought joy as he sees what God is up to.
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I cannot imagine his years of not knowing what was to become of him. Suddenly it's made clear and he understands God's amazing plan. God often works the same way in our lives. We are part of his amazing plan...even when you can't see the reason, even when you can't see how it could ever work out. Even then God is working. He has a plan and he will show you what he's up to. Like Joseph, you will proclaim, "God sent me on this odyssey!"
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