You know, the Lord is wonderful?  This is obvious to the Christian or maybe not, but for those that are not believers, this may not be so obvious.  A struggle for me has been trusting God to be a providential father in my life and the life of my family.  He will sustain us no matter what.  He is always at work in our lives even if we cannot see or feel Him there.  No one goes through any kind of turmoil or trial without His approval.  God is never surprised by what is happening, because He is control of the entire thing.  Many people think that when they go through something like a sudden death, job lose, ailment, etc., that God was asleep on 9-11-01.  Well, scripture tells us that God does not sleep and he is not surprised by anything. On September 11, 2001 God was in control of everything that happened.  Each of those rebels that flew the planes thought they were in control, but in reality God controlled them.  That is hard to swallow, but He controls all things. Realize that no matter what trail man may travel or what road we go down in life that sooner or later we will discover that God has already been there.  He knows every hair that is on our heads.  He knows our thoughts and words before we think them or speak them.  So, how could we ever doubt His plan for us?

If we can look back in time, we will see the providence of God on Joseph’s life.  Joseph is the 11^th son born to Jacob, but the first born the Rachel.  Rachel was the real love of Jacob’s life, so he treated Joseph as though he was the first-born son.  This would explain the reason for the coat of many colors Jacob gave to Joseph and caused jealousy among the other brothers. Joseph is to be great someday and his brothers will bow before him as God spoke to Joseph through a couple of dreams.  Of course, Joseph did not have to tell his brothers this, but he did.  So, this put Joseph in an empty well out of the anger of his brothers.  As his brothers contemplated killing him, some travelers were going by and his brothers decided to sell him as a slave.  Now Joseph is a slave just because his brothers were jealous.  You know most of the story, but remember that God is in control and he needs to prepare Joseph to become the most powerful man in the world.  He goes from slave to running Potiphar’s household.  Now, we can remember the story, which landed Joseph in the dungeon jail for two years, because he actually ran from Potiphar’s lustful wife.  The providence of God is all over this story.  Joseph was innocent, but is in jail.  Remember what happens?  He ends up in charge of the entire jail.  Now, while in jail he had asked the cup barer not to forget him while in Pharaoh’s household.  But of course the guy forgot Joseph.  At this point I can only imagine that Joseph feels like God has forgotten him.  Stuck in jail for a crime he did not commit and people have just forgotten him, until one day, as God would have it, Pharaoh had a dream that no one could translate.  The cup barer remembered Joseph at that point.  Do you think just by chance or dumb luck he then remembered Joseph after about two year?  I don’t think so.  It was Joseph’s time.  In a time frame of about 45 minutes Joseph went from jail to second most powerful man in the world.  When it is in God’s time and He is ready things can move rapidly.  As you really dig into this we find out that Joseph was like a father figure to Pharaoh, which would actually make him the most powerful man in the world.  The story continues on to the point that the dreams Joseph told his brothers came about as well.  All to say that the providence of God was in full control over Joseph’s life even the turmoil times.

God’s providence is still on us as well.  Nothing happens to you that is out of God’s control.  Not one hair on your head will be touched unless the Lord authorizes it.  No person has ever died before his appointed time by God.  So, to conclude, the Lord is wonderful, because we can sleep at night knowing He is in charge of the entire universe and our little universe, too.

Something to remember, before God promotes us, He test us!  In the words of A.W. Tozer, “Before God can use us greatly, He must hurt us deeply.”  Think about that while going through difficult trials.  It will be a better life for you at the end of that time, trust Him on that!

Copy Right Scott Bailey 2006

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