God's trial - Chapter 11

A faith that sees God's will in everything that happens.

Now the Ishmaelies had taken Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar ････ who was the captain of palace guard.The Lord was with Joseph and made him successful. ････ From then on,because of Joseph the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian and everything that he had in his house and in his fields. ････ Then she(Potiphar's wife) told him(Potiphar) the same story:”That Hebrew slave that you brought here came into my room and insulted me.But when I screamed,he ran outside,leaving his robe beside me.” Joseph's master was furious and had Joseph arrested and put in the prison where the King's prisoners were kept,and there he stayed, ････ because the Lord was with Joseph and made him succeed in everything he did.【Genesis39:1～33】

Reversing the Calamities of the Past

In November 2002,a new coronavirus disease called SARS broke out in Guangdong  Province,China,and spread to the rest of the world (32 regions and countries) the following  year in 2003.In Toronto,Canada,44 people died as a result of the spread of the disease  through the Chinese.

At that time,Dr.Kamran Khan,a Toronto-based physician specializing in infection control  and prevention,felt the helplessness of his patients dying one after another without any  treatment for their illnesses.Reversing his defeat feeling,he made a company “Bluedot”.  The purpose of the company was to (1)identify the source of new viruses that suddenly  appeared,and (2)predict the exact route of infection by collecting vast amounts of  information from all over the world and analyzing it with artificial intelligence(AI)  developed by the company.

Bluedot began to move,and then collected a huge amount of information.This information  included (1)all e-mails and rumors about symptoms of unknown infectious diseases that  had never been reported before,and papers on new infectious diseases. (2)It was to  visualize the social and economic relations of the Chinese people who are the most active  in various parts of the world,including the routes of their movements,who are using what  routes and means of transportation(including air and sea) to do what and where.

At the end of December 2019,Bluedot's AI will send out a warning signal to relevant  organizations around the world,ahead of the US CDC and WHO. "There is an outbreak of a  new coronavirus in Wuhan,China,with undiagnosed pneumonia and other symptoms.Please  be careful! Not only that,but based on the analysis of the air routes from Wuhan,I predicted  with near-accuracy that this new type of infectious disease would spread to Bangkok,Hong Kong,Taipei,Seoul,and Tokyo.

Envy without a reason

When people encounter a sad or unexpected incident or disaster,they react in various ways. Some are swallowed up in despair and die prematurely.Others fear the experience and flee  in another direction.Others,however,do not see the event as an adversity,but continue to  move forward in silence,thinking that the pain and sorrow they are experiencing now will  surely be useful in the future.

Depending on how we perceive trials,the way we live our lives afterwards will change in  various ways.To be honest,I don't like the word trial very much.If we only look at the latter  half of Joseph's life,we can see him as a young successful man who came on the scene,but  most of his life was actually full of trials just like his father Jacob.

Each time he was tested,he seized it with faith,everything the Lord does,even if it doesn't  seem like a good thing at the time,makes sense to God himself.In other words,God's will is  in every event! Because of our sin,we are unable to find God's will. We don't want to look at it head-on,especially when it is painful or unpleasant. ”Lord,I can't take this anymore!”

In particular,Joseph's trial in this article is clearly a case of false accusation! The first point  we should learn from Joseph's incident is that those who faithfully follow the Lord alone  will surely suffer envy without reason! It is a dimension that the more we obey,the more  intense the envy becomes.

The spiritual prototype originated from the famous incident of eating the fruit of the tree  of good and evil,when Satan planned to separate Adam and Eve from their Creator.Why did  Satan tempt them?He was once the most beloved of God the Father and the greatest vessel  in heaven.Yet,he suddenly became jealous of his Creator and rebelled against God.He said, "I can't stand it anymore that only the Lord is loved.I want to be loved first!”

Satan turns his spiritual blade against those who are loved most by the Creator.As a result, Satan's evil will cleverly leads them to commit treason just like him.Remember,we too are  subject to spiritual envy for no reason at all! If there is a righteous reason,If there is a right  reason,it is because "the real Creator is with us!”

In Joseph's case,he was sold as a slave to Pharaoh's captain of palace guard,not according  to his own plan,not according to his own will,but in the God's will,and he began to work  there faithfully and silently for many years.As a result,his master entrusted him with the  entire management of the house.However,Joseph at this time is still unaware that the envy  without reason has begun.

The Way Out

The second point of this article is the key word,God was with him.As a result,everything he  did was an expansion of the sphere of God's blessing,which extended to the Potiphar's  house and farmland.In other words,because God's will was manifested in everything  Joseph did,God's blessing expanded as a matter of course.

Then Satan's jealousy began to move in and sow seeds in the heart of the Potiphar's wife.If  you only read the Bible,you would think that Joseph,a young and handsome man,was a  good-looking,well-fleshed man. So,it seems as if she attendant seduced him sexually.

But the spiritual background is that Satan couldn't stand everything Joseph did,just as  Adam was entrusted by the Creator with the entire management of the Garden of Eden,and  as a result of his faithful work with God,God's blessing was extended to the entire garden. And just as he had done with Eve,and his means of "seducing" her sexually was to draw him  away from God and into Satan's domain.

When the world tries to make us spiritual slaves,the spiritual origin is always envy.Potiphar's wife attendant tempted Joseph sexually to make him her slave,but he was  able to escape.This is another example of the spiritual protection provided by the Holy  Spirit.When we encounter trials,it is almost always in the "I can't take it anymore!”  dimension,but the Lord also provides a way out that allows us to overcome those trials.

By the way,is this new coronavirus that spread all over the world in 2020 a trial of God's will  for mankind? It is true that Joseph was unilaterally imprisoned without a formal trial due to  the perjury of of the Potiphar's wife.But even at that time,he continued to pray for God's  wisdom. ”What does this trial mean to me? Lord, give me your foresight!”

Clearly,we can't seek prophetic wisdom to decipher the current global trials.But there is no  need to panic! This is all in God's will,and we Christians are surely being redeemed! This will  be an opportunity for us to know through the testimonies of many people that we are  redeemed! This does not mean that we will never be infected! We should not panic,but just  go about our lives as usual,taking the same precautions as we would for a cold.

In times like these,we should be calm and pray for a way out by faithfully discerning what is  important and receiving God's wisdom.Those who follow God will surely suffer from  spiritual envy,but after that,the next step is waiting for us through the path of redemption  that God has prepared in advance.

Envy will come.But do not be afraid! The way out has already been prepared for you  through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ,the Son. And we will learn then,like Bluedot,  that the trials of now are to establish our readiness for what lies ahead,through God's  wisdom.

May the Holy Spirit further call you,like Joseph,to be such a great worker of God that you  will expand the realm of God's blessing among those who are suffering the trials of the  present calamity.As an apostle of Jesus Christ,may your current ministry expand so that  you can bring God's living-water to all who are spiritually sick,I pray,blessing you in the  Holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! (Message on 15/Mar/ 2020)