Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Genesis 40:23
The man said, “I’m so far down the only direction I can look is up.” That experience happens to Christians, too. Poor Joseph, the man who had it all including the coat of many colors, has fallen as far as any person can fall. He has now been forgotten in prison. There is nothing he can do about it…except look up and, in reality, is there any better direction to look? Theologian John Piper reminds us, “Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don’t. You are in good company… You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope.”
How about you? Ever feel down? Here is a prayer for such days. “Let endurance produce character in me, and character produce hope – such a hope that does not put me to shame” (Romans 5:4-5). “Through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, let me have hope” (Romans 15:4) and “be saved by hope” (Romans 8:24). “Let the God of Jacob be my help, and my hope always be in the LORD my God” (Psalm 146:5). “Let me be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3) and “let that hope be to me as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, entering into the inner place behind the curtain, where the Forerunner has gone on my behalf” (Hebrews 6:19-20). Let me have “Christ in me, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and never be shifting from “the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23) but enable me to show earnestness to “have the full assurance of hope until the end” (Hebrews 6:11). In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Tom Swartzwelder
Sep 4, 2024 – On September 3, 2024, Tom Swartzwelder completed the race that God had set before him. He is now with Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith.’
Hebrews 12:1-2A
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles
He provides practical how-to-do-ministry resources for the disciples of Jesus Christ at http://www.godsgreenhouse.net. Tom’s latest book is “God Speaks–Today!”
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