Thoughts for the Day

When the Lord summoned famine against the land,
and broke every staff of bread,
He had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
His feet were hurt with fetters,
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord kept testing him.
The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house,
and ruler of all his possessions,
to instruct his officials at his pleasure,
and to teach his elders wisdom.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Psalms 105 and 106 are a pair of matching psalms that round off Book Four of the Psalter. They show us human history as found in scripture. First, there is God who is reliable, and then humans who are often wilfully obstinate. In Psalm 105 we see how God has acted from the time of Abraham to His people's entrance into the promised land. The psalmist reminds them of the miracles God has performed; the promise of a country in the future; and the protection He has gave to their forefathers. In verses 16-22 above, we see how God continued His work through the person of Joseph. When famine hits the land God sends Joseph (as a slave) on ahead as he eventually agrees when he looks back over his capture to the time when he was put in control of Egypt by Pharaoh (see Genesis 45.4-8).

Like Joseph it is sometimes only possible to see that we are being tested in this life when we look back over the past years. In the middle of a crisis whether it's one of our own making or not, we can only struggle to keep our head above water. We fail to see God's hand at work and often attribute every success to our own strategies, while desperately praying to be rescued when things comes crashing down.

But Jesus never promised us an easy ride in this life, in fact he promised the opposite. He said ‘Be truly glad ... these trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure.’ (1 Peter 1.6-7). And where is God when our life is very hard? One well known Baptist Pastor says this: "When God is silent in your life - you are being tested." (Rick Warren)

Heavenly Father,
day and night we call upon You for help
but you do not seem to answer.
Yet when we look back over our life
we can see where Your hand has been working.
Help us to stay strong at this time,
and to increase our faith in You,
so that we arrive at Easter full of hope.
Amen.