iCrucified

During the time I am away, I will reposting older entries from the icrucified blog. The following post was an entry from Jan. 19, 2009

Last week’s Bible reading took me through the story of Joseph (Genesis 42-50).

It’s amazing to me the way God works His plan. I think, in general, we take for granted that God’s plan (Perfect Plan) for us will be good, and with “smooth sailing” so to speak. That is, if we obediently follow Him with submissive and loving heart, all will go well. We read from the Genesis account God’s Perfect Plan for Abraham was that his seed would multiply, increase in wealth and prosperity, and ultimately be a blessing to the entire world. I cannot help but take notice of how God orchestrates and effects His Master Plan through the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. I’m not sure that I would use the words “smooth sailing” to describe the lives of those men…certainly not Joseph in particular. Taking a high-level view of these four generations of men I see God using hatred, slavery, injustice, favoritism, imprisonment, deception, famine, oppression, and a few other unsavory tools to effect His Grand Plan.

Why do we naturally assume if we are in God’s Perfect Will that life might not be fraught with difficulty? God uses the difficult and the painful to polish and refine us. The difficult and painful are part of the perfecting processes of our lives and His Plan. We are reminded in the later writings of the apostles that we should welcome and embrace these moments; we should allow them to accomplish God’s work, His will, and His plan in our lives…and ultimately, become part of the fulfillment of The Grand Plan for mankind.