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Not many of us like to wait. Like Joseph, has your waiting stretched on for years? Are you consumed with grief and bitterness because God doesn’t seem to answer your desperate pleas for a breakthrough, for help, or for healing?
God sees you! Don’t get discouraged and become resentful toward God while waiting.
Let God do His perfect work in your life, preparing you for what’s ahead.
When life isn’t going the way we planned and we continually wait, it’s easy to give in to a depressed mentality, ignoring those around us as if we are the only ones suffering. But through the example of Joseph, God reveals that our suffering does not need to be wasted. While suffering, Joseph worked to the very best of his ability as unto the Lord.
What work is before you? Wherever He has you, do your best. Don’t be half-hearted or dismissive of other people’s pain. Don’t be so preoccupied with your own suffering that you have no heart for theirs.
Even while suffering, Joseph was very attentive toward others. Joseph had a lot to complain about, plenty to grumble about under his breath. There are a hundred ways he could have conveyed to others that he was suffering too. But he was not consumed with himself. Instead, he reached out to help others who were suffering and responded in kindness to the cupbearer and the baker.
God was preparing Joseph for the enormous responsibility of being second-in-command of Egypt. Joseph didn’t know that was in his future, but he submitted to the training and refining that God was doing in his life. Even Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Don’t miss God’s purpose in your waiting time. Go ahead and work today at what He places before you.
Dear Jesus, You waited for thirty years before going public with Your ministry. You waited six excruciating hours on the cross to finish the work Your Father had given You to do. You waited three days in a cold, dark tomb before rising into new life. And all while waiting, You served others. You thought of others. You thought of me. Don’t let me waste my waiting, but make the most of it so that I am prepared for what comes next.
Excerpted with permission from the YouVersion devotional series featuring God Won’t Leave You There by Anne Graham Lotz and Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright.
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Your Turn
Submit to the Lord’s refining. It may be painful. It may take far longer than you wish that it would. But, God is preparing you for something important, so let Him do what’s necessary within you as you work to the best of your ability for Him. ~ Devotionals Daily