I recently heard a sermon on something Jacob in the Old Testament said. The Holman Christian Standard Bible and several other versions translate Jacob’s words in Genesis 42:36 as, “Everything happens to me!” Have you ever heard anyone say something like that? Have you ever felt that way?
The sermon I heard referred to Job who actually faced greater trials than Jacob. The book of Job demonstrates that God is it work even in terrible circumstances. The worst thing Jacob faced was the death of Joseph, his favorite son. I do not wish to minimize the heartache he endured. But Joseph had not really died. His brothers sold him into slavery. And his life was certainly harder than Jacob's, even though Jacob grieved for his son. In the end Joseph understood something that might have helped Jacob in his ordeal. And in fact, several things Jacob did say and do indicate that he understood what Joseph would so eloquently express. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph spoke to his brothers.
“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
The first thing we need to grasp about purpose is that it comes from God. God sees from a much broader perspective. Everything that happened to Joseph, and all that happened to Jacob, saved the lives of everyone in their family, not to mention millions of people in that part of the world.
The first principle here is that God always has a purpose. And the parallel truth is that the purposes of God do not revolve around you, your selfish interests or narrow perspective.
In Experiencing God Henry Blackaby talks about seeking the “will of God for you.” He points out that you are not the focus of God's will. God is working on a cosmic level. We don't need God to fulfil our will. We need to join God in His higher purposes.
You and I need to focus on the will of God to have perspective on the trials we face. If your purpose is your own comfort and ease, life is never going to seem right or fair. You will not see your difficulties and trials in the perspective of God's purpose.
If the purpose of a runner in marathon is to run the race without any pain, he will be overwhelmed, and will not finish the race. When Moses wrote Deuteronomy the Children of Israel had just spent 40 years in the wilderness. They were preparing to enter the Promised Land. And Moses told the people something important about the trials that God had brought them through. Deuteronomy 8:2 read's,
“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commands.”
I believe this is a principle. Whatever you're going through, God will use it in your life. And the difficulties you face will be an opportunity to prove your faithfulness to Him. But there is another principal in Deuteronomy 8:2. And that is that God who led the children of Israel will also lead you. You can learn to discern God's leadership in your life. And life will begin to make more sense.
Difficulties become more bearable when you see them in the larger perspective of the purposes of God. If you are living for petty purposes, your life will not be satisfying. But if you see your life as part of the grand scheme of the eternal God, you will even see your difficulties and trials as meaningful. Even when you do not understand what God is doing, you know he is at work in history and eternity.
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