When Faith Hasn’t Yet Become Sight

Imagine This:
You’re out on a fishing vessel at midnight. Deep sea fishing takes you far out into the midst of swells larger than any you’ve imagined. Up and down the waves batter the ship. It’s like a child’s toy in the midst of a great sea, being tossed helplessly. You begin to wonder how you’ll make it back to shore. Yet hope is not completely lost as you watch the crew work to save the ship. Suddenly, in the midst of this struggle, power fails on deck and all is black, pitch black. Deep darkness surrounds you inviting your imagination to run wild, grounded in no way. You fear the worst. You struggle to see something, anything in the deep abyss that surrounds you, but to no avail. Seconds seem like minutes as you imagine the ship crashing into unseen rocks or men being tossed overboard. You can see nothing, and the darkness seems to laugh at you. You can almost hear its mocking voice. Sure defeat. This is it. It’s over. Everything in your life now comes down to this moment.
               
A noise distracts you as you hear a slight sound. The striking of a match. The crew scrambles to light a lantern, and water now finds its way onto the deck. The powerful waves smash up on the deck, knocking you to your knees. Now soaked and cold, you gasp for breath.  You find every bit of strength to stand to your feet and grip a rail, crippled completely by fear. Then, slowly, you turn your head and look up. A light. The lantern. Just one light, yet hope glimmers as the flame dances. You look back to the sea hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything, a sense of where you are going and when you will arrive. You see nothing but a few feet ahead. You’re reminded that you are far from land, a tiny speck in the midst of great power. Still dark, the waves beat the tattered vessel. You can see nothing, and so you look back to the lantern and fix your gaze on the one thing you can see. The light. It shines confidently in the midst of chaos. It seems to know something. It gives you peace. The crew can work again and perhaps you will survive until the dawn. Not the best scenario, but a glimmer of hope is still hope. That one lantern may save your life, all of your lives. So you fix your eyes on the light and wait...


Ever felt that way? I know I have. Surrounded by deep darkness of despair, sorrow, loss of dreams, loss of hope. And the waves, they only seem to crash harder in those times, don’t they? You feel as though time has stood still and you have no idea where you’re headed or what surrounds you. You wonder why. You doubt the wisdom of God’s plan. You doubt yourself. In such a time, I recently fell in love with an old story. You know how you can hear something so many times, and yet in the midst of life’s circumstances, the characters and their struggles come to life in a whole new way? I love that about our Lord and His Word.

One Man’s Dream
Joseph. A young man, full of dreams and hopes. I can relate to that. Can’t we all? Having just graduated high school, I was ready to take on the world. Nothing daunted me with my hand held firmly in the grip of my Savior. He’s the Almighty, so I dreamed. Daring dreams, daunting dreams, dreams dear to my heart, I dreamed. Joseph, he was a dreamer you might say. Except God gave him something special. A prophetic dream of what was to come. A gift and yet, as Joseph would find, also a burden of trial and testing.


The 17 year old boy could contain the excitement of his dreams no longer and blurted them out to his family. He would one day rule. Quite a lot for a 17 year old to take in. Quite a lot for his brothers to take in. Rule over us, they mocked. Never! Their reaction was less than what the boy had expected, and his brothers, in a fit of jealousy, decide to sell him as a slave. Can you feel the hope begin to fade, the music change to something slower, more sorrowful, less optimistic? But wait, it hasn’t gotten bad yet. Joseph begins to serve Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. The Lord is with him and gives him great success. So much so that Potiphar lets Joseph have charge of everything except the food. The bon-bons were just too much to give up. I can understand that. :-) Joseph perhaps begins to think that his dream is starting to unfold. Here he is, in charge of the fields, houses, and servants of one of the most powerful men in Egypt. Surely I’ll be a ruler one day, and this is the ticket, he must have mused. Yes, I miss my family, but this must have been God’s plan for me all along. Ever been there? The stars are seeming to align. Everything begins to make sense. And then, wham! The life gets knocked out of you in an instant, and everything goes black again. Our main character is about to take the hardest blow yet.


This young man is growing up, and becoming quite handsome too. Too much for a pair of wandering eyes to handle. Those wandering eyes also happen to belong to Potiphar’s wife. She tries to seduce him over and over again, yet Joseph remains faithful to His God and His ways. In her desperation, she corners him and takes his cloak as he escapes. Joseph is soon sent to prison based on pure lies. His innocent hands are shackled to a wall, and seemingly his dreams are shackled along with him. Surely I’ll be out of here in no time, he thinks. Potiphar will realize my innocence. Someone will speak up for me. It’s just a matter of waiting.


Not long after, two men who are imprisoned as well, have dreams. God gives Joseph the interpretations of their dreams, and he reminds one man to “remember me when it is well with you.” (Genesis 40:14) As he watched the man leave his cell, Joseph must have thought, finally, this little mishap will be over. My name cleared and I’ll be back on the road to fulfilling my dreams. Joseph waits in great anticipation that someone will come for him soon. But time ticks on as it has a way of doing, and Joseph remains in the darkness of prison. Are you starting to feel those waves rock the boat once more? I know I am. This is where it gets interesting.

Hope Delayed
Joseph waits and waits...for a week, then a month, then a year, for two years. Did you catch that? Two years is a long time to watch your dreams wither away. I can only imagine what went through his head during that time. Where are you God? Did I really understand you correctly? This isn’t fair! This isn’t what you said at all. I was going to be a ruler. I was going somewhere. Now I’m here. Stuck. Powerless to do anything. The other prisoner must have forgotten me. He was my hope. My way out. How could this happen? Where is your plan now, God? Please, help me out of here. I trust you. I must trust you. Help my unbelief. Don’t forget me, Lord. And so he prayed day in and day out for two years. I can almost see his tears and hear his voice waver as he does the only thing he knows to do, pray. Some days were better than others, I’m sure, as they are for all of us. He must have had days of great sorrow and doubt, followed by times of confidence and hope. Still, on and on he waited.


In Psalm 105:17-19, it says of Joseph that “they hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” You see, in the midst of Joseph’s prison experience, God was at work. He hadn’t left the scene, forgotten Joseph, or forgotten his promises. God was testing Joseph’s heart as he often does our own. Will you believe my word, Joseph? Do you believe that I will do what I said? Do you understand that it is me who will make it happen and not you? Do you trust me, my child? Do you believe that I am good even when you can’t see? Do you believe that I love you and have great plans for you even when you are suffering? Trust me, my son. How I love when you pour out your heart to me. I love to hear your voice. Hang in there, Joseph. I am with you. I am.


And in these times of testing and waiting, we look up and see a light. The Light. He is always there. Some days we see nothing but Him. With no idea of what lies ahead or when we will arrive, we set our eyes on Him. He is our hope. He is our surety. He never fails. His words are as good as done. His plans great. He is the giver of dreams. Oh, the dreams He has for you! And for me!


What’s that? Oh, you wonder what happened to Joseph? Not to worry, he was freed from prison after those two years of waiting and testing. And you know what? Not only did he go on to become a great ruler, second only to Pharaoh himself, but he was there at the perfect time and for a great purpose. He was able to save his family and his people throughout a severe famine. In the end, he was able to see his father and brothers, and say to them, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20)  Only God could have known. How perfect are Your ways, oh Lord!