Daily Devotion

 With Pastor Ancel Presnell

“WHEN TODAY’S WHYS BECOME TOMORROW’S AHAS”

It seems to be extremely rare that we see the reasons why God allows us to experience trials and tribulations. For some Christians, their ability to cope with this mystery is found in semantics; when dealing with the sovereignty of God, words such as decree, order, allow, cause, and permit are often used. The reality lies in this question: Is God in complete control, or is He not?

When we find ourselves living with the consequences of what we have sown, it often leads us to seek forgiveness, and we begin to live in repentance. Our natural expectation at that time is for the consequences to go away immediately. After all, we have confessed our sin, repented, and now we are following the Lord in obedience. In these times, when trials and tribulations are a consequence of our own making, we may not like the consequences, but we have some understanding of the law of sowing and reaping. But when trials come to us that we did not ask for, nor did our sowing have anything to do with them, we become overcome with Whys!

Today’s whys will eventually become tomorrow’s Ahas! Joseph was one of Jacob’s sons; his mother was Rachel, and Joseph lived a life that was obedient to his parents. He was a shining example of a young man of faith and integrity, and his father loved him dearly. Unfortunately, Joseph’s brothers despised him, and it was by no fault of his own. They were jealous of him and of their father’s affection for him.

Their jealousy led to hatred, and their hatred led them to mock him, abuse him, throw him into a pit, and ultimately sell him into Egyptian slavery. Everything that led him to this dreadful place of “why”, was simply the result of his consistent obedience to his father. From our estimation, that should not be the result of being a devoted and faithful son with integrity! No, the last person who should be mocked, thrown into a pit, and sold into foreign slavery would be Joseph, and yet, that is exactly what happened. Was God absent, wrong, unjust, unkind, or downright mean for allowing this? No! God was using a “Why, God?” for twenty years to produce, time and time again, Ahas for tomorrow.

Genesis 50:20—” ²⁰ But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”