Today’s exhortation – that’s life
One of the things that Joseph’s story has confirmed to me is that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (Psalms 34:19). And also, “the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…”” (II Chronicles 16:9). Being a Christian doesn’t make life any easier and we’ll find that most days are a challenge. We’ll have to fight of temptations daily and we’ll suffer betrayals, injustices, loneliness etc all because we choose to be faithful and loyal to God. It’s perfectly normal that people will dislike us for no reason or try to undermine us, it shouldn’t take us by surprise at all.
Anyone marked by the blood of Jesus is game for the devil to attack. He comes at us from all angles. In our marriages, health, work, relationships, children etc, but God allows it because He uses it to mature us for our promotion. We also learn from Joseph that we should trust God and let things take their course. So what if they lie about us or undermine us? God will fight our battles for us, we don’t need to prove anything to anyone. In due season, God will show Himself strong on our behalf. Let’s just keep our eyes on Jesus and in spite of all the storms, we will walk on water. Amen
Francis Hans-Jorie