God's way

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
-Hebrews 10:23 (NRSV)


APPEARING forlorn, the little girl crouched in the corner of the ward near a woman with bandaged limbs. She was there to spend her school vacation with her mom. But her mother was no ordinary patient, and this was no ordinary ward. This was a mission to treat those with Hansen's Disease. It was not exactly a place you'd expect a little girl to spend her vacation.

During my visit there, I witnessed the impact of leprosy on people and their loved ones. I thought about the passage in 2 Kings 5, and I could imagine how desperate Naaman must have been to be cured. When he heard about Elisha, Naaman went to the prophet's door, only to have a messenger tell him to wash in the Jordan River. Despite his anger and mis-givings, Naaman acted on God's direction that came through the prophet and was rewarded with a miracle.

Like Naaman, I've found that God's directions don't always make sense to me. They may challenge my understanding of how to deal with my circumstances. But when I act in faith on what the Bible says, its promises prove true. What God has promised will surely come to pass because God is trustworthy.

by Eunice Tan (New South Wales, Australia)


Read Genesis 37

I often like to think that when God gives you a blessing or a mission or in some way jumps down into your life, great things are about to happen. You are about to go on an adventure that will be exciting and fun and filled with happy God moments. But that’s not what happened to Joseph.

I once heard a minister say that one of the most dangerous times in our lives is right after God has spoken in to them. I think that is an interesting point that could be argued using chapter 37 of Genesis. Not to crack open any deep theological discussion, but look what happened to Joseph immediately after he had his dream.

In the first half of the chapter he has a dream in which his brothers bow down to him. After hearing the dream, they decide to either kill him or sell him into slavery. How can that be? I mean God just gave him a huge dream, a vision that was wild and amazing? How can the first step towards having people bow down be landing in slavery?

I want God to make sense, but He doesn’t. All too often, He seems to choose the exact opposite of what I would choose. It’s like He tells me to move to the ocean. So I buy bathing suits and a boat and a dock and I do everything I can to get ready for water. Then He says, “OK, you’re moving to the ocean, so the first thing I want you to do is go spend a few years in the desert. I want you to go a million miles away from the ocean.”

That doesn’t make sense. That is illogical. But I swear that is how God works. When Joseph had a dream of greatness, the first step was slavery. When Christ was called forward to save mankind during the baptism with John, the next thing he did was go spend 40 days alone. When you were called to get a new job, the next thing that happened was you got a promotion at your current one. When you were called into the ministry, instead of going to seminary God asked you to study Italian for a few years.

Sometimes we get the opposite of what we expect, like Joseph getting a shackle instead of a scepter. But when it comes to God, He always gives us what we need.

by Prodigal Jon