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How many times have you said (or thought), “God, it’s not fair. It’s not right. This situation is simply not just!”
In Genesis, Joseph faces a terrible injustice. His brothers – without cause – ripped him from his happy home, and threw him into a pit. From there, they sold him into slavery. From slavery – without cause – Joseph was thrown into prison. Life was just not fair for Joseph.
His choice? To drink the water of justified bitterness (which flows abundantly in our prison experiences), or to drink the water of life – real life – even in prison.
Genesis 49 tells us that Joseph found a well of Heaven’s water in prison. He drank of that well until his branches grew over the walls and the prison could no longer contain him.
Joseph had every right – according to human reasonings – to cling to the life that was ‘rightfully’ his, thus allowing his frustrated expectations to pull him deeply into the prison of despair and hopelessness.
But Joseph chose to allow the prison experience to purify him. He laid his heart before God - in the midst of the pain - and invited God to deliver him from his 'righteous expectations.' I can imagine that it was a painful experience. When Cain's sacrifice was not accepted, Scripture says that Cain's countenance fell. When our countenance falls, it is because of our expectations. Psalms teaches us clearly to only have our expectations in God! "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him." (Psalm 62:5)
To come to the place that our expectations are only in God means that we die to our flesh, that we die to our carnality, and that we die to our own understanding of how life should be. Before the children of Israel could go into Canaan, they had to be circumcised. They camped at a place called Gilgal, and this is where the mass circumcision took place. Gilgal means 'the place of the knife.' And the knife was used to cut away the flesh in the tenderest of places on a man's body.
As we walk further into maturity, we must visit Gilgal. This is the place where God Himself takes the knife of the Spirit and cuts away the flesh from the most tender and most private places of our hearts. It's interesting that there was no real anesthetic in those days. The cutting away of the flesh was painful then, and it is painful now. This is a part of our Christian lives that only happens in pain - the pain of disappointment, of betrayal, of unfulfilled expectations, of God crushing our sense of justice - the war between flesh and spirit. It's the kind of pain where we cry out for God to bind us (the sacrifice) to the altar so that we can't escape the process.
Pain is an essential part of Christian life. It's not a popular message, but it's absolutely Biblical.
"That I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Philippians 3:10-11)
"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should life the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." (1 Peter 4:1-2)
Did you see that? He that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin! Alleluia! It's one of the ways that God purifies us and sets us free! When we are in the situations where we feel the very life is being crushed from us, that could be a Gilgal chapter in our lives. It can be that the forces that brought the pain are not the point. Though what happened was not just, the eternal point behind it all is that the knife of God purges us and frees us. Through the crushing, the pain, the disappointment, and the thwarted expectations, God is doing an indelible work in our lives and hearts. As we discern the situation, we may find that the right response is to turn and embrace the pain, and allow it to bring forth fruits of holiness, purity, gentleness, forgiveness, and truth in our hearts.
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy." (1 Peter 4:12-13)
We don't just visit Gilgal once in our life with Christ. We visit Gilgal from time to time for deeper surgery. We are being changed from glory to glory, and God wants His best for His children. In time, we understand that the pain of Gilgal is not just severe; it is terrible and beautiful in that it produces luscious fruit in our lives. This fruit is the most precious treasure in all of life - it's the fruit of His life and nature in us.
A part of the truth of Gilgal is letting go. At Gilgal we embrace the pain and, at the same time, we let go our 'right' to be disappointed, outraged, wounded, offended, and/or bitter. The knife of God cuts away the flesh that feels these things. After the pain has done its work, we completely let go of the painful past. It's not that we don't remember, but the memory no longer brings anguish and it lacks the power to pull us into bitterness or self-righteousness.
Through these Gilgal times, we learn to be careful of our expectations, releasing people to be who they are and where they are in God. We forgive people. We let go of wounds. We release God from our own expectations, and we learn to let our only expectation to be from Him. We let go of the past, so that we can fully embrace the future. Isaiah says, "Behold I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19)
The turning can come suddenly! Psalm 126:4, "Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south" refers to the dry waterbeds in the desert. A few times a year, when the rains come in the north, the waters run down to the desert. If you are there, for about five minutes you hear the waters coming. Suddenly, in the dry river bed, a wall of water, 5, 7, or even 10 feet high bursts through the bone-dry river bed! This is how God turns captivity. Suddenly!
Joseph had a Gilgal experience in prison. He had every right to be bitter. He was right. His brothers were terribly wrong. He shouldn't have been in prison. Potiphar's wife was wrong; Joseph was right again. He had done nothing wrong. His life shouldn't be this way.
Joseph didn't spend time drinking of the waters of bitterness and self-righteousness. He embraced the pain, and let the pain do its work of holy circumcision. As Joseph chose to drink the living water, his roots went down deep. His arms were made strong. His branches grew. They grew and grew, until his prison could no longer contain him! His branches went over the wall. (Genesis 49:22) At that point, God turned his captivity, just like those streams in the south.
I encourage you, my friend, as I also encourage myself in the faith. Let us follow on to know the Lord. Let us press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Let us run hard after him. Let nothing else satisfy us, but the purity and holiness of the Living God in our lives.
Jesus said, "I come not to bring peace, but a sword." Let it be the sword of Gilgal in our hearts. |
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It’s Not Fair! |
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Tom and Larissa Benz |