Stripped: Trusting God When He Allows Others to Hurt Youનમૂનો

Joseph memorialized what he learned in the meantime in his children’s names, simultaneously offering insight to help guide us through our meantime thousands of years later:

“And the second son he named Ephraim and said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” (Genesis 41:52, CSB)

The next alteration is to fructify, or “to bear fruit; to make fruitful or productive.” I consider this alteration a double-stitched seam: a technique used to give extra strength to finer fabrics by adding a second seam close to the first one.

Seam number one recognizes God’s grace operating on our behalf: “the Lord made everything that he did successful” (Genesis 39:23, CSB). Both Joseph and the narrator clearly establish that it was God’s favor that made him fruitful. However, we must not ignore the “everything that he did” aspect.

Seam number two realizes Joseph didn’t just sit in a corner of the dungeon or take the path of least productivity. He wasn’t an unbothered employee holding up the line like there’s no tomorrow, or the “that’s not my job” type either. He had a part to play, and as he did it, God gave him success.

We need to resist the urge to succumb to our disappointment and remember we are participants in the waiting. We won’t have energy to be active every single day, and that is OK and needed too. When that happens, it’s important to be gracious with ourselves and give us space to mourn, rest, and recover. But whenever it is a possibility, we must engage as partners with what God is doing in our lives.

Plants don’t have to think about producing fruit, they simply stay planted and rooted. The fruit comes naturally when they are in the right soil and with the right conditions, like sunlight and water. I am not suggesting working things out on our own efforts, like we’ve already discussed led to big mess ups in Joseph’s family. The secret to producing fruit in God’s timing is to abide or remain in Him.

This means seeking His presence, reading Scripture, and persevering through trials and pruning processes. Often, we can mistake a heavenly pruning for an attack from the enemy. We might feel like our leaves have dried or our passion has disappeared. Although sometimes those things happen as a result of not seeking the Lord, praying, or worshiping Him as we should, it could also be God putting us into “uncomfortable” situations because He wants to nip our character here or there, so that we can bear more fruit.

It’s not my job to save the world. My job is to be a light in the world, wherever I am, and through whatever I am doing. Our job is to abide in Him. We are mere branches. He is the vine. We must constantly seek Him above the activities we are involved with. When we abide in Him, the fruit comes naturally.

At Potiphar’s house and the dungeon, Joseph worked with what he had in his hands at the time. He embraced the job entrusted to him, despite it not being the role he wanted.

He preferred to be back home caring for his father’s sheep with the comforts and luxuries that came with being part of a rich family. Instead, he was in a foreign land with new responsibilities and forced conditions as a slave and prisoner. But he abided and trusted that God would give him success.

As I meditated on this part of Joseph’s story, I felt embarrassed for complaining about the less than desirable jobs I’ve had. Each of those jobs taught me valuable lessons for subsequent ones, including the one I have now.

It’s possible you don’t like your current job. You might even hate it. I get it, I’ve been there. But keep going. Do it to the best of your ability, even if it’s galaxies away from your dream job. Stay rooted where God planted you for this season. Remain in Him, grateful for each job and opportunity, because it can be exactly what you need for the destiny He has prepared for you. Your part is to do your best, His part is to produce the fruit.

In pursuit of Christ, through deserts, valleys, pits, dungeons, and equally on the high places and mountains, we must seek the fruit of the Spirit, rather than the desires of the flesh. This is abiding, taking up our cross daily and following Him. When we do this, His word will not fail; we bear fruit and are successful in everything we do, even if it seems the opposite from our skewed point of view.

Are you still in the land of your suffering, dreaming of achieving success the day you finally reach your goals? You don’t have to wait for that moment, my friend. You can be successful in the land of your suffering. Right here. Right now. Abide in Him and He will produce the fruit of success in your life. Only when we are deeply rooted in Him and His words, are we able to apply the next alteration: forgive.