Waiting and Hoping

When I saw the latest episode title on one of the podcasts I follow, I knew I had to listen right away: Hope + Help for Waiting on God. Mark Vroegop’s new book, Waiting Isn’t a Waste, is one I’ll get as soon as it is released. I know I’m not good at waiting, and it’s something I’ve been wrestling with recently. A particular arena of uncertainty about the future had me anxiously awaiting a resolution. I searched for ways around the waiting without success. So some of Vroegop’s comments in the podcast hit home (and perhaps stepped on my toes a bit).

He notes that in Scripture the Hebrew word that is often translated as waiting is synonymous with hope. (Some time back I had noticed the same of the Spanish word esperar.*) Yet so often we wait without hope. Which brings me to the next point I noted in the podcast. When we are waiting, we need to refocus our attention away from thing that is causing the gap in our knowledge and think instead on what we know about God. Here are a few of the truths that I’ve been returning to in the past several days:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose… to be conformed to the image of His Son…” (Rom. 8:28-29).

“I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence” (Psalm 140:12-13).

“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5b).

When I’m consumed with anxiety, I start thinking “yeah, but...” I know God is at work, but His ways are not my ways. I know He hears my prayers, but He doesn’t always answer them the way I want or expect. I know He will work all things for good, but I don’t know how long it will take. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be” (Letters, 29 April 1959).

Vroegop also touches on the subject of evaluating our expectations. I want to control my world and the people in it, and dashed expectations hurt. It’s hard to remember and accept that God is working things for good when I can’t understand how He’s doing it or what good may come of it. I’m only now seeing the good that has come out of some things that happened years ago.

As I was anxiously waiting, I tried to think about what was actually under my control, which was not much. I could pray boldly and persistently (and I did), and I invited others to pray with me (which I don’t often do). Aside from that, I simply tried to trust God’s promises and His character more fully, and endeavored to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:16-17).

It turned out that my anxiety-producing lack of knowledge was settled earlier than I expected and in the way that I desired. In reality, the answer was already decided long before I even had reason for anxiety. It was only my own knowledge of the circumstances that needed to be brought up to speed, which required an appointment with the one person who could tell me. Even if that hadn’t been the case, God already knew the answer before I started praying. But in His divine providence, He allowed the testing of my faith in order to make me depend on Him more fully, as well as to remind me that I am connected to people in His Body who are more than willing to pray for me. I wouldn’t have paid attention to a podcast about waiting if I had not had to wait. And I wouldn’t have heard or heeded the reminder that what we know to be true of God is always where we need to focus our attention.

Bruce Martin wrote in Desperate for Hope, “The more we reflect on the greatness of God, the more our perspective on the situation changes. We’re reminded that God is with us and he’s always up to something. We just can’t see it yet” (73).

“But they who wait for [NIV “hope in”] the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

*Quiero esperar con esperanza!

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Waiting

Simeon,
awaiting the Savior,
the consolation of Israel,
waiting faithfully,
waiting patiently,
salvation for all,
the light for Gentiles,
and the Jews’ Messiah,
waiting righteously,
waiting devoutly,
believing God’s promises,
trusting the Spirit’s revelation.
Lord, make me more like Simeon.

Anna,
awaiting the Savior,
worshiping daily,
fasting and praying,
waiting for decades,
the redemption of Jerusalem,
giving thanks to God,
speaking to all,
waiting for the Redeemer.
Lord, make me more like Anna.

Jesus,
the Christ,
the Messiah,
Savior,
Redeemer,
Son of God,
Friend of sinners,
coming again,
awaiting the Father’s cue,
wanting none to perish,
but all to repent.
Lord, make me more like Jesus.

Help me to live
in holiness,
in godliness,
faithfully,
trusting You,
waiting for the coming day,
for the new heavens
and new earth,
where righteousness dwells.
Lord, come quickly.

“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:7).

[See Luke 2:25-38 and 2 Peter 3:8-13.]

© 2023 Dawn Rutan text and photo. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Still Waiting

It seems like the past year and a half have been one long lesson in patient waiting. Waiting for lockdowns to end; waiting for schools to reopen; waiting for the church to return inside; waiting for a vaccine; waiting for appointments to get the vaccine; and now waiting to get gasoline. Curiously, none of that waiting would have been necessary if we didn’t live in a broken and sinful world.

We’re all tired of the status quo, but the question is, are we waiting as anxiously for the things of God? The psalmists wrote,

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken” (Psalm 62:1-2). Are we waiting for God alone or for some change in our circumstances?

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope” (Psalm 130:5). Is our hope founded in the Word of God or in politics, government, technology, or something else?

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” (Psalm 37:7). Does evil and brokenness occupy our thoughts and words more so than the goodness and provision of our Lord and Savior?

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14). Are we more discouraged by the world than we are encouraged by the Body of Christ?

What can we do to better trust in God’s promises and faithfulness and to help others to do the same?

***

Here’s an encouraging reminder in song from Keith & Kristyn Getty, “I Will Wait for You.”

“But for You, O Lord, do I wait; it is You, O Lord my God, who will answer” (Psalm 38:15).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Be Still

In our office chapel service this week we talked about Psalm 46. Verse 10 is well known, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (ESV). The root Hebrew word translated as “Be still” in Psalm 46 is used elsewhere as “relax” and “wait.” In the New Testament, Mark recounts the storm at sea when Jesus “awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39; compare also Psalm 107:29). The words used here have the connotation of “be silent.”

I was reminded of visits to my Grandma Rutan’s house as a child. When the grandkids were noisy, fussing, or hyperactive, she would say “Be still.” Looking back, I realize she was saying more than just “Sit down” or “Hush.” I think God says the same to us. “Be still. Relax. Wait. Be silent. Rest. Trust Me.”

That’s often easier said than done. When the world is in turmoil around us, we look for the things we can do and things we can control. We try to understand what God is doing, but we may not be able to figure it out. John Piper said, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” Sometimes we can’t even see three things. How can we rest and wait on God? Most of that has to come from knowing and trusting what Scripture says about Him.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1b-3a).

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last; besides Me there is no god… Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a God besides Me? There is no Rock; I know not any” (Isaiah 44:6, 8).

“Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He will surely plead their cause, that He may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon” (Jeremiah 50:32).

“[Jesus Christ] is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15).

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19).

If we trust that God is the sovereign Creator, Redeemer, and King, and that we belong to Him, we can learn to be still and wait upon Him to accomplish His good purposes in us, through us, and around us. As much as we want to understand and see what God is doing in our world, we’ll rarely know enough to satisfy our questions. Faith says “I know enough to trust that God knows what He’s doing.” I need that reminder frequently these days.

“And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You” (Psalm 9:10).

(Here’s a post I wrote a couple years ago that you might like.)

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Out of the Silence

Last week I started reading God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer, by Pete Greig. I didn’t realize it was going to be timely reading, because he uses the Easter timeline as the structure for his chapters. Did you ever stop to wonder what happened on that silent Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? What were the disciples thinking? What did they do? Did they pray, or were they too shell-shocked to even think? It must have seemed like all hope was lost. Greig writes:

“No one really talks about Holy Saturday yet if we stop and think about it, it’s where most of us live our lives. Holy Saturday is the no-man’s land between questions and answers, prayers and miracles. It’s where we wait—with a peculiar mixture of faith and despair—whenever God is silent or life doesn’t make sense.”

Sometimes it can feel like we are still stuck in that silent Saturday. God isn’t answering our prayers as we’d like, and we wonder if He really does hear or care. The challenge for us is how to hold onto hope and endure with patience until the day when every question is either answered or no longer relevant.

 “The Bible leaves us in no doubt at all that when God is silent, He is not absent from His people—even if that’s the way it feels. He is with us now as much as He ever was. He’s no less involved in our lives than He was when we could hear His voice so clearly and could sense the joy of His smile…

“Why can’t we wait with the mess and pain of Holy Saturday unresolved? …In our fear of unknowing, we leapfrog Holy Saturday and rush the resurrection. We race disconcerted to make meaning and find beauty where there simply is none. Yet.”

We try to comprehend things that don’t make sense because we simply don’t have all the facts. God has not given us all the details or explained His master plan for our lives. We don’t want to wait patiently. In Christ’s resurrection is our reason for hope. Because He was raised, we can trust the promises of Scripture that God hears and answers prayer in His perfect way and time.

In his book Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday, Alan. E. Lewis writes:

“But such is the world we live in, no different now from the first Easter Saturday, the day of divine abandonment and absence. Yet is not all prayer designed for Easter Saturday, the product of confusion, emptiness, and grief? Prayer is desperation translated into daring — the risk of letting go of confidence, eloquence, and that ‘spirituality,’ so fashionable now but so seductive. To pray is to confess not the abundance but the exhaustion of one’s verbal, intellectual, and spiritual resources. It is surrender to one who prays for us when we have no prayers left… Prayer then, the sound of silence upon Easter Saturday and every day which reenacts it, is the last breath of our self-relinquishment, the freedom we give God at last to be God, gracious, holy, and creative” (464).

May we not rush ahead in the church calendar, but dwell in the truths of Easter: Jesus is alive; God is still sovereign; He knows our weakness and hears our prayers; we can trust Him to do what He deems best even if it doesn’t always make sense to us.

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27 ESV).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Meditation on Romans 8

Romans 8 has long been one of my favorite sections of the Bible. The following are some thoughts I’ve had this week.

1-4- “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

God does not condemn me because my life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). He does not look on my sin but on Christ’s perfection. I have been set free from the condemnation of my sin, along with its power to trip me up. I don’t have to fulfill the law perfectly because Jesus already did. Condemnation from other people or from myself is out of place and has no ultimate weight.

5-11- “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

I confess I often do set my mind on the things of the flesh, but because I have the Holy Spirit, I am not obligated to the flesh. I have a choice where I will set my mind. When I do set my mind on the flesh, the result is fleshly—discontentment, discouragement, lust, pride, envy, etc. But when I set my mind on the things of God, the result is spiritually fruitful—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

12-13- “But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

The flesh cannot and will not put itself to death. Fighting the desires of the flesh by my own strength will always fail. Only by the transforming power of the Spirit can those fleshly deeds and desires be killed.

14-17- “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

I have been adopted into God’s family, and I have all the rights of the Son of God Himself. I need not fear my heavenly Father, but I can come to Him as a child with my needs, my desires, my weakness, and my failures.

18-21- “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”

This world is really messed up by sin. My sin, the sins of others against me, broken bodies and minds, death, destruction—one day it will all be cleaned up and made new. Till then I must wait and endure.

22-25- “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

I often get discouraged and impatient with my progress in sanctification. [Would I dare turn that sentence the right way around and say that I am discouraged with God’s progress in my sanctification?!] I keep thinking that I should be farther along, that I shouldn’t have these same struggles, that God expects better of me. When those same old temptations come along, pride tells me to try to rely on myself, while shame tells me I am already a failure just for being tempted. I groan with the seeming futility of this life, but I eagerly long for the day when all temptation, sin, and brokenness will be a thing of the past.

26-27- “The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Without the intercession of the Spirit and the Son, I don’t know where I would be. I am certain that God has spared me from some moments of temptation that would otherwise have made me fall into sin. He has made a way of escape for me through Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:13).

28-30- “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”

God’s will is my sanctification, but He has ordained that it will not be completed until the last day (Phil. 1:6). I will one day fully reflect the image of Christ, but until that day I will groan with the weight of this world.

31-34- “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”

God has already given me all I really need—salvation, forgiveness, the righteousness of Christ, adoption, a secure future, the promise of perfection one day, etc. If I feel I’m lacking something, I’m either mistaken or I’m being impatient about waiting.

35-37- “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

I often don’t feel like a conqueror. I feel weak and susceptible. But Christ has won the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Even if I lose a battle, the war is not lost—it’s not time to give up, but to recoup to fight another day. The Commander sees what I cannot see—that the end of all battles is very near, and the verdict has already been determined.

38-39- “[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And for that I give thanks.

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Do You Believe?

In his book Life in Christ: Lessons from Our Lord’s Miracles and Parables, Charles Spurgeon has a chapter on Jesus’ encounter with the blind men in Matthew 9. When the men cry out for mercy, Jesus asks them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Spurgeon writes,

“Faith is pointless if you only believe in the Lord’s power over others but declare that you have no confidence in him for yourself. You must believe that he is able to do whatever concerns you; or you are, for all practical purposes, an unbeliever… Each man is accountable for himself. You must be willing to be honest with yourself. Jesus asks each one, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’”

It seems that many Christians tend to trust God for salvation, but then assume that everything else is their own responsibility. I’ve been convicted by this question myself. As I prayed about a particular issue and wondered why God hasn’t intervened as I wish, I found myself confronted by the Word—“Do you really believe that I, the Lord and Creator of the universe, am perfectly capable of dealing with this problem in your life?” After thinking about it, my honest answer is, “I know I should believe that and I want to believe that. Lord, help my unbelief!”

An added challenge to our faith is that God’s answers don’t always look the way we think they should. Rather than leveling the path ahead, He walks with us through the valleys and over the mountains. Rather than removing a difficulty, He uses it to make us depend more on Him.

Spurgeon makes this comment, but I’m not sure I fully agree with him:

“You will wonder where the burden has gone and look around and find that it has vanished, because you have looked to the Crucified One and trusted all your sins to him. The bad habits you’ve been trying to conquer, which have forged fresh chains to bind you, will fall off you like spiders’ webs. If you can trust Jesus to break them and surrender yourself to him to be renewed by him, it will be done and done immediately.”

Sometimes the chains don’t seem to fall away—so is that due to lack of faith, failure to pray, or is there some other lesson to be learned? I do believe that surrender to Christ and seeking His aid is a daily, hourly, and sometimes even moment by moment need. We have an adversary who loves to trip us up. Spurgeon says of our enemy:

“[Satan] has spent thousands of years perfecting his skill to make Christians doubt their faith in Christ, and he understands it well. Never answer him. Refer him to the one who speaks for you. Tell him you have an Advocate on high who will answer him… The best evidence a man can have that he is saved is that he still clings to Christ.”

So when the darkness lingers, when the valley seems too long or the mountain too steep, when the briers start to choke or the chains don’t fall off, cling to Christ. Remember His presence, provision, and protection. Remind yourself that He is able to do all things well (Mark 7:37), and every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). Rest in Him.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Still Waiting

I was reading in John 9 of the man born blind. “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (2-3 ESV). Obviously this man and his parents were not completely free of sin, but their sin was unrelated to his blindness. We can’t read too much into this, but it is apparent that the brokenness of this world is used to display God’s works. He uses all things for His purposes (Rom. 8:28). He can use physical, mental, and emotional brokenness, and He can even use our sinfulness in ways that will bring Him glory.

I’m sure I’ve contributed to my own “blindness” through the ways I’ve behaved or things I have mistakenly believed, but the story doesn’t end there. Each piece of my story is an opportunity for God to display His glory. Whether He heals the brokenness or not, He gets the ultimate glory for whatever works He does in and through me. There are parts I am fairly certain will not be “fixed” in this lifetime, but that will just make eternity that much better. Some things I’ve experienced in the last few days have made me yearn even more for the day when all will be made perfect—where people won’t misunderstand one another or say things that are incorrect; where we won’t overreact to words or deeds because all the old wounds will be healed; where we won’t have anything to hide from one another; where fear will be a thing of the past; where our bodies and minds will function perfectly as God intends. I long for that day to come.

As I was skimming through some Scriptures I’ve read this week, it struck me how often we take Isaiah 40:31 out of context. “They that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with winds like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” That is an inspiring picture, but we can’t divorce it from verse 30, “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.” In this life we are guaranteed to encounter weariness, exhaustion, pain, and trials. The promises of verse 31 won’t truly be fulfilled until we receive our new bodies and the earth is made new. Even Jesus grew weary while He walked this earth.

So we are called to persevere in faith until that final day, trusting that everything will be made clear and God’s purposes are revealed so that He will be glorified. There are days I don’t want to persevere, days when everything seems pointless and hopeless. But I’m reminded, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Heb. 10:36). I imagine the man who’d been born blind got tired of the routine of his life. The man who’d been an invalid for 38 years (John 5) certainly had reasons for complaint. I wonder how much the difficulties in Joseph’s life influenced the way he manipulated his brothers (Gen. 42-44) before he revealed who he was? (Somehow I don’t think God told Joseph, “Let’s string them along for a while until they really appreciate your position”!)

One day “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). But until that day we endure, we wait, and we pray for His will to be done and His glory to be revealed.

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Simply Trusting

Once again God has conspired with several writers to remind me of His truth. My pastor and his wife were both involved in different ways. Meredith posted on Facebook, “Trusting in Jesus does not seem to me to be a one time declaration, but a moment by moment choice to remember and rest in what I know to be true, thereby relinquishing my control in the current situation.”

Right after that I read this article by a couple who lost their two young sons in a tragic accident: “God has a plan. The situation is a frustrating one. We don’t want to be here. We don’t like it. This is not a fun situation. We’re mad at the loss. But we know God is good and has a plan and we believe that” (http://www.wbtv.com/story/29592649/couple-relies-on-faith-forgiveness-after-losing-sons ). I can’t imagine what this couple is going through, but they have chosen to trust God when nothing makes much sense.

Another author writes of the lessons learned through losing her brother to cancer:

“Not until I was at the very end of my frayed rope… that I decided to relinquish my counterfeit control and earnestly desire for God’s perfect rule to manifest His glory in the most powerful way possible… I lost my small vision, but I gained His big one. I saw my selfishness exposed, and it was ugly. I lost my control, but I came under His, which is where I lost panicked fear and found peaceful assurance.” (Desperate Hope, by Candi Pearson-Shelton, pp. 35, 38)

There are days when I wonder what God is up to and why He can’t accomplish His purposes through less painful means. Some days it seems like nothing good comes out of the trying circumstances of life. Some days it feels like the middle of a 40-year journey in the wilderness. On one of those days last week I found this article by Jon Bloom, http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/dont-give-up, and I have reread it each day since. He comments:

“…in embracing the gospel, we find ourselves also drafted into a war — a war to keep believing the gospel and a war to keep spreading it to others. In this age we ‘strive to enter that [complete] rest’ of the age to come (Hebrews 4:11). Wars are exhausting — especially long ones. That’s why you are often tired. Many soldiers, who experience the fierceness of combat, want to get out of it. That’s why you’re tempted to escape. That’s why you’re tempted to give up.”

The battle to hold on to faith and to keep trusting Jesus day after day is one we all face at times—when loved ones face serious illness or are lost to death; when jobs are scarce and bills pile up; when it seems like prayers are not being answered; when God doesn’t do what we think He should… We have to ask ourselves whether we believe He is in control and whether we trust that His way is best. And if the answer is yes, we need to wait on Him and rest in Him even though the days may be long. Obviously He knows something that we don’t, and for that we can give thanks.

I’m reminded of the old hymn by Edgar Stites (public domain):

Simply trusting every day;
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Chorus:
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by,
Trusting Him, whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Brightly doth His Spirit shine
Into this poor heart of mine;
While He leads I cannot fall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Singing if my way be clear,
Praying if the path be drear;
If in danger, for Him call,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting Him while life shall last,
Trusting Him till earth is past,
Till His gracious advent call,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Getting Through

The following is drawn from the Family Camp studies on the life of Joseph based on Max Lucado’s book You’ll Get Through This. Max says:

You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime, don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will get through this.”

The difficulty is that we don’t know how long “through” is going to last—days, months, years, or a lifetime. It is that uncertainty that is the hardest to bear. As someone said, if I know this will be over next month, then I know I can endure it. If I don’t know when (or if) this will end, I imagine the worst and feel unable to keep pressing on.

In the life of Joseph, he had no idea how long he would spend in the pit, in Potiphar’s house, in prison, or in the palace. The pit didn’t last long, but being sold into slavery was a different kind of pit. And prison could have been a much shorter stay if Potiphar had gotten the truth out of his wife, or if the cupbearer had remembered his promise. But through it all, Joseph remained faithful to God.

We don’t know if Joseph had access to any kind of Scripture, and his family wouldn’t be praying for him if they thought he was dead. So most of his life it seems he was alone with his memories of the stories his father had likely told him about Noah, Abraham, and others, and he had his own prayers and the dreams God had given him. So he endured by faith until God brought him through the other side.

Unlike Joseph, we do have a couple avenues to find strength to endure and to trust in God: Scripture and community. We have to decide to believe that the promises of the Word are true, even if they don’t seem true at this moment: God is in control; God is good; God is working all things for my good and His glory; God knows and understands exactly how we feel. By faith we take Him at His word and cling to what we know. And in order to do that, we need the loving support and the graceful reminders provided by the Body of Christ. We need to be reminded of the truth in preaching and teaching. We need the encouragement and love of true fellowship. We need to know that others have been through the same difficulties and have survived with their faith intact. Community can provide more specifically in the forms of prayer, comfort, and material needs as well.

I don’t know that I would have the endurance of Joseph. Thankfully I haven’t had the same kinds of trials, though that doesn’t really matter. God has His own way of turning evil into good for His own purposes. And He’s given us His Word and His people to carry us through.

“Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).