Thread by @2runtherace

Why?

Have you ever asked the LORD why? Why am I alone? Why don’t I have a friend? Why didn’t you answer my prayer for a job, or a home, a situation to be resolved, or a loved one to come home? Why am I sick, why did my spouse leave me, and on and on!

We have all asked why, and if we’re honest we’ve asked many times throughout our lives!

I had a conversation with my granddaughter recently and she asked many why’s!

I tried to explain to her that often the path that God would have us walk is for our own protection, and for His purposes! We don’t understand the why’s, but we must trust Him that they are purposeful!

I tried to comfort her that no matter how bleak our past seems, and our present lives feel, He has good ahead for us!

Yes, our paths are often littered with things that are unpleasant and feel sometimes downright unbearable, but we must trust Him that He is orchestrating every step we take for His good purposes!

Psalm 37:23-26
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with His hand.

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

In the case of the life of Joseph, God was working in his life to save an entire nation!

Jospeh set out to check on his brothers because he was asked to do so by His father! He was walking in obedience to His Father’s instructions, but in doing so he was left for dead by his jealous brothers!

Even when sold into bondage, Joseph through no fault of his own was falsely accused by the wife of the leader and put in prison!

Do you think that he ever asked why? Why LORD, have You allowed these horrible things in my life?

In the end Joseph knew that God was working something far greater than his present circumstances! He trusted in his God! This is what Joseph said to his brothers once they realized he was alive, and not only alive but providing for them!

Genesis 50:18-20
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Beloved, we can trust God! He has a purpose for us and He knows the path we must walk for His purposes to be fulfilled! He means all the trials we encounter for good!

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Job’s path took him through a very trying time! He lost those he loved the most, and even his closest friends questioned why God was allowing all these horrible things in his life! Surely Job must have sinned or else these things wouldn’t have come upon him!

But we know that wasn’t the reason for Job’s trials! He like Joseph was walking in obedience to the LORD, but his very obedience led God to allow Satan to test him!

God called Job perfect and upright before Him! A man who turned away from evil and sin!

Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Job 1:8
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Even though Job feared God, he asked why in the course of his trials. But in the end he knew that he could trust the LORD God!

Job 23:10
But he knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 13:15
Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: but I will maintain mine own ways before Him.

Joseph’s father, Jacob (Israel) loved him so much how it grieved him to lose him, unbeknownst to him, by the hands of his own sons!

Genesis 37:3
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

It hurts so much to go through trials and even more for us to watch our children, and grandchildren go through trials, and even to perhaps like Joseph, lose them! But when we believe that God is in control and He has a purpose we can endure it!

As we go through this life we will have trials, and we will most likely ask why!

I think about the prayer that I pray for my children, my grandchildren, myself, and each of us! LORD, capture our hearts for You, perfect us in Your love! Do whatever it takes in our lives to make our hearts completely Yours, and to glorify You, in Jesus Name!

The answer to this prayer will mean that we will encounter trials and tests! Our way will be lined at times with thorns, but if we know they serve His purposes, we can persevere through them, looking ahead to the good He has in store!

1 Peter 4:12-13
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1 Peter 1:6-9
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
#EyesOnHim

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