God's utterly unrecognizable hand

When you end up in a deep deep hole, sometimes it is God who has made sure that this is where you wind up.

Gimme a break! Not possible!

He only wants good for his children! A deep deep hole is never his plan! Don't you listen to the tele-evangelists???

It is true that God wants only good for his children but the disguises that he puts on 'good' often make us run the other way, screaming, it seems.

So God never puts a deep, deep hole in our paths?

Tell that to Joseph, who discovered the hand of God at the bottom of the hole.

I conjecture that he did not immediately see God's purpose when his brothers threw him into the abyss. I guarantee you I would not have seen it. No way.

Joseph may not have seen it for years.

But he finally saw it.

As a matter of fact, when he at last reveals himself to his brothers in Genesis 45, he chalks up the entire experience to God's explicit plan for his life.

Hole and all!

If you live on earth, at some time in your life, you will have been thrown into a deep deep hole. It might be the result of someone else's actions or you may have willingly jumped in, happy as a clam, oblivious to what was occurring.

And you have seen this happen to others, haven't you? Maybe a brother, sister, spouse, child or friend.

It is never pretty.

But it is necessary.

What might have happened if Joseph had developed a huge resentment to his circumstances and indeed, his entire life as a result of this hole-experience? What if he walked around for years after being thrown into the hole fixated on his brothers and that unjust experience?

What if, in conversations with friends as they offered encouragement to him, Joseph always countered with, "Yeah, but you have never been thrown into a hole by your family like I was!"?

Rather, he trusted in God's control of all. He trusted in God's over-arching goodness-of-purpose animated behind the scenes in everything he experienced. He had faith that the unseen hand of the ever-present Father was painting a masterpiece in his life when everybody else saw a Rorschach test. He believed that in all of the confusion, chaos, upheaval, misery, insane anxiety, horror, disconnectedness and out-of-control feelings that he had, somewhere the hand of God was still busy and un-thwarted in constructing his life.

Do you flip out when you find yourself in a deep deep hole?

Do you curse God, shake your fist at him, and impute all sorts of perverse motivations to him? Do you constantly allude to your own misery when others attempt to coach you out of a tough spot?

Do you actually hide behind the deep deep hole that has been in your life rather than allowing God to use it for your good?

Do you become fearful and resentful of the hole in your life?

Here's the challenge ...

if you have experienced or are experiencing a cataclysmic personal situation, ask God to help you see his path in it. Ask God to open your eyes to the eventual plan that is being served by this experience. Even if you cannot see the whole thing, it helps if you can discern at least part of the lesson or purpose at work.

It helps.

If you see someone else experiencing their own deep deep hole, pray for them.

Pray that they understand, at least partially, that God's utterly unrecognizable hand is at work. Pray that they can catch a glimpse of God's hand fashioning, molding and transforming their life via the most inscrutable means possible.

Somehow, it helps.

And they, like Joseph, might find light in the darkest of places.