God Uses The Wicked

 

English: Joseph made ruler in Egypt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read | Genesis 37-39

When we don’t understand what God is doing or why, His ways can seem perplexing. The times when ungodly people seem to triumph over the righteous make us scratch our heads and wonder why the Lord doesn’t intervene. But the truth is, He oftenuses the wicked to accomplish His purpose.

Joseph faced one hard-hearted individual after another during his years in exile. His brothers shipped him off to Egypt. His boss’s wife accused him of an unspeakable crime. And even those he helped, like Pharaoh‘s cupbearer, forgot about him (Gen. 40:23). The actions (or seeming inactions) of God make little sense at this point.

But once the story of Joseph’s life was written in full, it was clear that everyone who harmed or neglected the young man contributed to God’s plan. The Lord used numerous people across several years to bring a humbled young Hebrew unexpectedly to power at the right moment to spare his family–who were the Messiah‘s ancestors–from the effects of famine.

In our circumstances, we can see God’s actions only from the limited vantage point of our humanness. We experience the events He has allowed or caused but can’t discern what He is thinking. Often the Lord’s goals and purposes are hidden from us until His plans come to fruition.

God is sovereign over all the earth. We may wonder at the strange or even terrifying turns our lives take, but we can be certain that He is in control and at work. The wicked may triumph for a season, but the final, eternal victory belongs to Christ and His righteous followers.

Dr. Charles Stanley

My Clothes Got In The Way!

hippie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

I remember as a young evangelist preaching at a crusade before 5,000 people in
Los Angeles. At least 2,000 of those people were Christian hippies. They had
just been born again and were brought out of the hippie culture. Many of these
young people lay sprawled before me on the floor, barefoot, wearing long hair
and tattered clothes.

That night I was dressed in a spiffy blue blazer with a sharp tie, the latest
bell-bottom slacks and shiny shoes. When I took the stage, I started railing on
those kids. I said, “Some of you look awful. Put on some decent clothes and get
a haircut before you come back tomorrow night!”

Backstage after the service, I was met by a delegation of those long-haired,
young hippie Christians. One of them ran his fingers down my fashionable coat
collar and said, “What a beautiful suit.” Then he looked up at me and said,
“Brother David, we couldn’t see Jesus tonight.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Your clothes got in the way,” he replied. I had considered them to be too
dressed down — and they had considered me to be too dressed up.

Those kids were not making fun of me. They were sincere. They wept as they told
me, “We believe you’re a man of God, but you’re missing something.” I know now
that it was mercy I lacked. I never railed on that subject again. God taught me
a hard lesson, one I pray remains in my heart.

Let me say this: Many Christians think it is enough to be pure and sanctified.
We think that is the number-one issue and that all we need to do is abstain
from evil, come out from the world and remain clean. As long as we don’t smoke,
drink, fornicate or commit adultery, we think we are pure.

No one has preached stronger messages on holiness and purity over the years
than I have. But according to James, purity is merely the first matter of
concern: “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). Yes, first we are to be clean. But mercy,
grace and kindness are to follow.