Saturday, November 3, 2012

Step By Step...When You're Tired of Stepping

Have you ever gotten tired of trying? You keep making steps but the steps seem to be taking you nowhere--or nowhere fast. Yes, we've all been there, but what happens when you've been "there" one too many times?

Tiredness pervades your body like a slow moving malaise, and forget the proverbial "one step forward two steps back". It's more like one step forward and ten steps back. And as far as your eye can see, it seems as if nothing is changing. Nothing's growing, nothing's increasing, and you don't want to admit it but things seem to be declining. The time before your period of change is starting to look better and better...

Right now I'm thinking about the biblical character Joseph. Joseph was known as a dreamer, and to make a long story short, his dreams landed him in captivity as a slave. Despite his unjust captivity, Joseph proved himself to be a worthy and capable individual, and his master made Joseph the head man in charge of his house. Unfortunately Joseph was falsely accused by the master's wife of a wrong, and that accusation landed Joseph in...

JAIL, of all places. He had done nothing wrong and now he was in prison. Due to his relationship with God, Joseph was able to interpret dreams. What relevance does this have with the story? Joseph meets two prisoners that happen to mention their dreams to Joseph. Joseph interpreted one man's dream to have a favorable ending and the other's unfavorable. Both of Joseph's interpretations were correct.

Here's the kicker. The man whose dream ended well was supposed to tell the person in authority (which just so happened to be the king) about Joseph. However, he forgot, and he forgot for three years. But then the king has a dream that those around him cannot interpret, this man remembers Joseph, and Joseph ends up before the king. Joseph interprets the king's dream, and, well, the rest is history.

All of that to say what? Can you imagine being Joseph? Would you want to imagine being him? First he was sold into slavery by his brothers for being a dreamer. Then he catches a break and becomes the head servant of his master's house, only to be thrown in jail because he does not give in to the wife's attempts to seduce him. And when it seems like he may be leaving prison soon because he interpreted the butler's dream, he's forgotten about for three years.

Me, personally, I think I would have gotten discouraged after being thrown in prison. And I probably would have been absolutely broken after three years. But could that be God's purpose all along? To break us of everything that's hindering us from becoming the people we imagine and envision ourselves to be? Do I agree with all of God's Ways? No. Is that a problem? No, because He's the God of all hearts, and He knows how to change our hearts if we will let Him.

So if you're tired of stepping, take a moment and regroup. What around you do you still have? And take inventory of yourself. While your surrounding circumstances may have taken a turn for the worse, what about you and your character has changed or grown? And then, once you've had a small breather, start moving again, because eventually you will step into the dream you've been seeking.

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Arise , and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter : so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:1-6, King James Version)

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