“ When we are able to acknowledge that there is only one God who sends the sun and the rain , we can confess our powerlessness and surrender the fields of our lives into His care . ”
As difficult as it is , the person who learns how to engage with God amid mystery and suffering will have a fuller and more complete grasp on what it means to truly befriend Him . The byproduct of suffering with God is an intimacy with Him that will endure through the seasons . But first we must admit that there are questions and situations in our lives that cannot be explained . First we have to resist the temptation to fill in the blank with inadequate answers when a question mark best honors the moment we find ourselves in . When we are left with no language and our formulas and fixes have failed us , we are forced to go beyond conceptual faith and into the depths of intimate dialogue with a relationship first God who has a bird ’ s-eye view over all life .
In the ground of our lives , hardship is often the soil in which we learn to invite God to have full access for deeper work : a deeper faith , a deeper hope , and a deeper love . Sometimes , like He did with Joseph , God will allow us to weather the winds of suffering so He can strengthen our roots and cultivate the gardens of our devotion to Him .
When we are able to acknowledge that there is only one God who sends the sun and the rain , we can confess our powerlessness and surrender the fields of our lives into His care . We can invite Him in to nourish our roots to grow where they have been planted — even though we might have chosen a different field . We can partner with God to produce beauty and bounty in places we thought were beyond hope and harvest , and yield to His sovereign love , a love that is continuously engaged in the work of redeeming the seemingly irredeemable .
Joseph , son of Jacob , illustrates this process beautifully since he has one of the most extensive stories of suffering in the biblical narrative . He was his father ’ s favorite , born to him in old age . Jacob was not discreet about his favor toward Joseph , and he presented him with a lavish coat of many colors . Not only was Joseph the recipient of Jacob ’ s favor , but he also had the gift of prophecy , and he shared his dreams and interpretations with others . Joseph ’ s siblings seethed with envy at this radical favoritism and spiritual gifting , giving us a glimpse into the reality that envy is often the relational curse that accompanies favor . In Joseph ’ s story , envy led to hatred , and hatred led to displacement when he was ultimately sold into slavery by his brothers . This propelled Joseph on a thirteenyear journey of formation through the fires of suffering .
“ When we are able to acknowledge that there is only one God who sends the sun and the rain , we can confess our powerlessness and surrender the fields of our lives into His care . ”
When Joseph was thrust into the despair of slavery , his inner life expanded as he learned how to relate to God outside the blessing of favor and within the lingering ache of all that could not be explained or understood . Joseph found himself in the wake of
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