“No stars gleam as brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky. No water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand. And no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known God’s strength had His strength not been needed to carry you through.” -Charles H. Spurgeon
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5 (NKJV))
It is character that makes a man or woman of God, not anointing. And it's in the wilderness, when the pressure comes, when the disappointments mount, when the dreams seem to be unattainable, that necessary refining, the character shaping that takes place. I recall a time in my wilderness journey when I was struggling a lot with discouragement and comparisons without realizing it. I got to my breaking point and I asked God, "Why does it feel like I'm not good enough at what I can do or why haven't I leveled up in the way I wanted professionally and financially?"
My mind was so focused driven on the things I wanted to accomplish in this world, that I wasn't taking those moments to focus on how these focused driven things I wanted to accomplish would be in line with furthering God's kingdom and my spiritual journey. Just like the impurities in gold before it's melted in the furnace are invisible; however, when we put it in the furnace, the impurities come to the surface. The Lord had to bring forth the things I was focusing on, feeling discouraged about, and even comparing myself on. He had to bring me into the furnace of affliction to make these impurities surface.
In those moments, I was blaming different pieces of my life and wondering about the what ifs instead of finally surrendering it all the Jesus, repenting for not fully depending on God in these circumstances, to ask God to help me remove the feeling of discouragement, disappointment, and comparison. This is one reason the wilderness is as difficult as it can be but is so valuable and ultimately even leads to great Joy.
It says in 1 Peter 1:6-7 --- So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
As JB explains, "The wilderness is where we are refined and character is developed within us. It is in the furnace of affliction and persecution that the truly godly person is made. Romans 5:3-4 says, " We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character." And he continues on sharing how God's approval on David's life was because he was a man after the heart of God, not a man after the worldly kingdom."
When we enter the wilderness journey in the beginning, we struggle, we complain, we make things more complicated without knowing. Throughout my wilderness journey its taken me quite some time to really appreciate and understand why we go through the wilderness journey whether it's one thing or even a multitude of different journeys. Without the trials and the testing of our faith we cannot really know the genuineness of our faith and trust in God. We can "feel" like we are as genuine as possible; however, until you get thrown into a wilderness journey, we will continue living a certain mindset which could result into the incorrect mindset and even heart.
Just like it's stated in 1 Peter and Romans 5, we are tested through the trials so we can see if our faith remains strong. Can we keep moving forward despite the road blocks placed in front of us? We need to find Joy in all circumstances as I've said in my previous posts. We can find joy, we can rejoice in the difficulties in life when we know that they help us develop endurance and strength of character.
Refining can be difficult and painful. It definitely isn't a walk in the park. It may seem that as we continue to seek the Lord more and obey His word, the further we are from getting closer to the dream, goal, and prayers we need answered. I love the fact that John Bevere referenced the story of Joseph in this chapter. Just like Joseph was given a dream of leadership where even his brothers and family were under his authority, what came next? He was thrown into a pit by those who were supposed to support him and shortly after was sold to slavery in a foreign land. Can you imagine the shock, disappointment, and pain?
It was almost certain he imagined that God would perform a miraculous intervention to free him quickly. However, these hopes would eventually fade because his slavery didn't last a few months or a few years, it lasted more than ten years. While his brothers who put him in this situation were free, enjoying life, and enjoying the wealth of their father. So what did Joseph do? What was his response during his wilderness journey? Joseph kept the faith, served, and didn't forget God's promise. He was faithful, wise, obedient, and as a result experienced a blessed success.
In some ways, I feel like I lived a Joseph story. Specifically focusing on my career, it took me years upon years to get where I am today. During the time I was going through my wilderness journey and reading this book, I recall feeling the similarities of the Joseph story. I was hitting 9 years of service to the same company and yet I wasn't moving up professionally. There wasn't really a plan of movement for those in my position. I had moments of confusion since I kept asking God to lead me to the next point in my chapter. Was it time to leave or was God still calling me to stay at this company?
There were moments of hope where there were plans for a promotion then it would be placed on hold or I couldn't transfer to another department even though there was opportunity. Just like Joseph who was going through his journey of ups and downs, just when he thought it was progressing from his situation, his world suddenly changed again. His boss' wife began to find interest in Joseph. She sought to entice him into adultery, not just once or twice, but on multiple accounts. Despite the temptation Joseph was faced with, he still decided to obey God and fled from sexual immorality every time. Finally the wife became so aggressive that Joseph had to literally run away from her hold.
Because of this, she was so angry that she could not get Joseph that she falsely accused him of the very thing he didn't do. He was unfairly "convicted" and thrown into the dungeon. Usually a foreign slave attempting to rape a king's officer's wife would be killed. A person in prison for the most part has a lot of time to reflect. This next part that JB shares are the possible thoughts that Joseph had to fight off while he was in prison in which was not far from how we ourselves would question everything. Could you imagine Joseph wondering about how he serves God faithfully throughout his life and where it got him? It turns out by not his fault he is rotting away in a dungeon. While he could have thought his life was over, and his wicked brothers were free and most likely enjoying great abundance. Wondering what he has done wrong. All he did was share his supposed God-given dream with his brothers and look where it got him. What good is it to serve God when it seems the more I obey Him, the worse life gets for me?
I absolutely had a realization of how I reacted this whole time to my situation. Whether it be the small wilderness journey or this huge one. I was beginning to have those types of thoughts. I was beginning to build anger towards God and wondering if He was even real. How is it the more I serve and obey God, the more difficult my life seemed. My sister passed away early, my job was still not at a place I wanted it to be, there were certain areas in my personal life where I was struggling with as well and it just felt I was in this bad season FOREVER.
Going back to the story of Joseph, as he was still in the dungeon/prison, Joseph faced his greatest wilderness test. God brought two men to him, a butler and a baker, who both had a dream that left them confused and were seeking an interpretation. If Joseph would have lost faith in God, and His promise, it would have been quite easy to be self-focused and he would have blown them off. He could have been bitter and rude to them, or even told them that he had a dream that he thought came from God but the truth is dreams don't come to pass. Dreams are useless, vain, misleading, so leave me alone!
But Joseph didn't do that. If he did, he would have remained in his wilderness journey for many more years or even for the rest of his life. He would have bypassed his ticket to freedom (the butler later told the king of Joseph's ability to interpret dreams, which led to Joseph's release from prison and promotion). If Joseph wallowed in self-pity, anger, etc., he would have eventually died in that dungeon and even lost his faith and salvation.
Joseph fought off the bad thoughts, the whispers of the enemy misleading us and confusing us on God's ability and power. Joseph decided to submit, surrender, and continue to do his best despite the circumstances he was facing. He chose to serve the butler and the baker. He stayed consistent in his obedience to God and the outcome eventually was his freedom and even a promotion in one day, to become second in command to Pharaoh.
Nine years after Joseph's promotion to leadership, the circumstances of a severe famine resulted to his brothers coming to Egypt and standing before him. Joseph's course of action wasn't revenge, as most would have chosen. He now had the character of a true kingdom leader. He did good to those who did him evil. He was not a bitter man, but a man full of faith, love, and forgiveness for the ones who had betrayed him.
It took me a little over 9 years as well to get to where I am now in my career. I encountered people who took my passion and dedication negatively. Who looked at my earnings as something that wasn't fair since at the time I was making more than what they made at my age. People who threw me into a metaphorical "pit" of my own by advising me to leave my company to venture into a job offer that would end badly. And even encountering people who only wanted to help me if it benefited their advancement in their own careers. There were moments where I encountered the best people but they just didn't have the power to have me join their team right away.
My point is, we all go through some type of Joseph experience where we are pushed to our limits (based on how we are feeling), where we are beginning to lose the faith and question God. We begin to wonder and evaluate our lives and service to God. I was there. I asked God why. I questioned Him especially in the moment when He took my sister. How could you not answer the prayer of your servant who only focused and obeyed you? This is where we don't realize that self-centeredness of our hearts. We are in a society of it's not fair thinking; however, when we think in the kingdom minded perspective, you begin to see why it possibly happened and how it can affect us in a positive way.
My Joseph experience and wilderness journey shaped my character. It made me seek God more, grow my faith in God, understand complete surrender and submission to Him. And boy, I tell you, once you fully submit and surrender it to God, the weight lifts off. Complete submission and surrender is truly allowing God to make the way and guide you. That means we need to be more conscience on our thoughts and actions. Are we doing things because it is God driven or are we being impatient again and taking matters into our own hands (which will result to a longer season of trials)?
I am living proof of experiencing the wonders and power of God. After 9 years of complaining, growing, surrendering, submitting, doing my best, and TRULY TRUSTING GOD, He answered, and what the Lord gave me was more than I ever wanted or could have imagined. At the end of the chapter of a wilderness journey, you look back and realize why things happened the way they did, how growth really blossomed, and how much our character is molded. God gave me the job of my dreams. I work at the corporate office of my company, I am back in my IT field and managing systems, projects, and so much more. I am now 100% work from home, and I have a very supportive team and boss. And as funny as it may be in connection to Joseph, to some degree, I am second in command in my department.
God orchestrated everything to help me get to where I am now. Even the wrong turns I took thinking it was a "God-given" move. God used that life interruption and made it His intervention. Throughout the last 9 years of my journey where I was feeling like things were so pointless and irrelevant to my field (because in most cases it could be), became the biggest unique characteristic and experience I brought to my new team and to the company. I'm the only one in the company who has gone through the different departments. From IT, admin, and even clinical. Because of all of these pieces, I am able to best use the experiences I faced to make things better for the company overall. I am now in a position to bring efficiency and new ideas to the forefront to not just help a small group, but to help the everyone . How amazing is that??
Only God knew the set time that His personal promise to Joseph would come to pass (over twenty years after the dream). The wilderness forged in him the character that would build his life, family, and leadership position as well. The key to all his success was his reverential fear of the Lord. No matter his conditions, Joseph would speak, act, and obey God's word.
Trusting God in His timing is something we all may find difficult when actually doing this, but it makes everything so much lighter and amazing. I had to wake up from my own situation and trust in God's timing. Although my journey almost took 10 years in my career chapter, it also took a couple years for other prayer requests to be answered. The Lord's timing is truly perfect, and when we trust in this fully, God will line everything up in our lives to fit every situation we face. God removes the stress of the what ifs, the wonders of how can we make this happen, the anxiety of why can't we get something yet, GOD REMOVES IT ALL. WE JUST NEED TO TRUST IN HIM. (Matthew 6:34--Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.)
I fall guilty to one of those people who watched others rise and said, "this isn't fair", how I carried bitterness seeing others get promoted at my job/company or even in other areas in life while I was going in the opposite direction of my God-given dream. I was doing everything I possibility could do but the vision was not becoming reality. There were people around me who were even carnal and not really seeking the Lord but they were getting the blessings left and right all while I was like Joseph in chains in Pharaoh's dungeon.
But you know, I would not change my journey one bit. Without the moments in the wilderness where it's the most harsh, we have a tendency to not really focus ourselves on God. We have the unfortunate attitude of only going to God when we need His help instead of living the life where God is always present, and needed in all circumstances, and we place Him as our full focus in life. Don't get me wrong, it's not like life is 100% perfect now. I still feel the pain of losing my sister, but she didn't leave in vain. Losing my sister has taught me so much more in my own spiritual growth and union with God. And instead of wallowing on how this isn't normal or how this isn't fair, I had to see the good that was to come out of a terrible situation and to stop comparing my life with the life of others.
I miss my sister and that will never go away until I see her in heaven, but I am able to cope in life knowing that God is truly present. We just need to open our hearts and allow Him to work in our lives. If we have any ounce of doubt it will be a difficult road for God to work in our lives, and for us to really see His power at hand. With my career, that was one of the biggest struggles I faced. However, I walk away with a different mindset. My thoughts and character is more mature and God-driven, and more focused on the things above. My encouragement for you today, is in whatever you are facing, there will be bumps along the way and in those moments we need to cling on to God's goodness and faithfulness. And for the wilderness journey we face, let us respond the way Joseph did during His journey and trust that God has better plans for us than we could ever imagine.
Comentários