Photo Credit: Keith Moyer
My all time favorite Old Testament character is Joseph. His story fascinates me. At the young age of 17 God promised Joseph that he would be a great leader. So great that even his own family would bow before him.
Plenty stood in the way of this promise. Joseph was beaten, thrown into an empty well, and sold into slavery by his own brothers. After being a slave for 11 years he was falsely accused of rape, and thrown into prison for at least 2 years. After being released he was charged with the task of storing up supplies in preparation for a 7 year famine; this took 7 years of his life. At 2 years into the famine he was finally reunited with his family. At the age of 41 his promise from God was finally realized. For those of us doing the math that is a total of 24 years Joseph had to wait for his promise from God.
In 2005 I was sitting in service at a church we had just started attending. We had just a hand full of friends there and no one really knew our personal lives at all. This was just about a year after I had started my small counter top company. I was extremely stressed at the time. My company was still struggling to make payroll each week and, the work was slow to come. Our finances were stressful. About 3/4 the way through the service the pastor stammered and said, “I need to do something real quick if everyone will just have some patience.” He then walked over to me, and whispered into my ear, “Just as Joseph named his son Manasseh because God had caused him to forget all his trouble, so will you forget your troubles.” He then went right back to his preaching and ended the service.
After the service I went up to him and asked what happened. He said that in his 25 years as lead pastor that has only happened to him 5 times. He just knew what he was supposed to say to me even though he really knew nothing about my current situation including the fact that I owned a company.
I assumed at the time I could expect all my financial problems to be resolved in the near future; I was wrong. In fact it got worse, and I cannot say that I have seen this promised realized in my life, yet.
I have chosen to do the same thing Joseph did during his waiting period. He continued to move forward, believing that God would be faithful to complete the promise made. Joseph maintained his faith and continued to uphold his belief system even in the face of massive temptation to deviate.
The obstacles I am facing seem small compared to what Joseph had standing in his way. Still, life’s challenges are relative. Every individual faces different challenges and their difficulty level is very individualized.
In the teaser for this week’s Let’s Blog Off subject, Gerard wrote the following.
Eighteen years ago, The Shawshank Redemption was released that had what I consider the best line ever. “I’ve convinced you to come this far. I’m hoping you’re willing to go just a littler bit further.”
Sunday morning I felt God asked me to do the same thing. I choose to go just a little bit further and continue chasing His promise, no matter how long it takes.
