Thoughts from the Potting Shed by Ruth Johnson

“…You meant evil against me, 
but God meant it for good…”  
Gen 50:20 NASB

What a positive remark from Joseph when twenty-three years previously he’d naively shared with his brothers that he'd dreamt of them bowing down to him.  Their reaction at the time was to throw him into a pit and then sell him into slavery.  



Joseph seemed to have the capacity to make the best of any situation. His administrative gift so benefited Potiphar he recognized God’s favour on this young man.  Was it Joseph’s naivety that stopped him anticipating Potiphar’s wife crying rape when he refused her attentions?  Or did he bury his head in the sand hoping the problem would go away? 

Next came the prison, where in making himself useful, the warder recognised God’s favour on Joseph's life and trusted him with the free run of the prison.  It was thirteen years before he interpreted the King’s dream about seven years of plenty and seven of famine.  And another nine before his brothers came to buy food from Joseph who was now second in command to the King, Joseph's dream was fulfilled.  The Lord watched Joseph in those testing times and it seems when the Lord felt Joseph was ready He initiated his rise to a place of power and authority.  Joseph had no specific call from God, circumstances dictated his path, and in Hebrews 11:22 he isn't commended for his faith while alive, but his belief his people would return to their land.  Martin Luther King had a dream, he carried it, spoke of it, but didn't see the reality of it in his lifetime.  It would seem every experience in life is to form our character, and God's plans and purposes are far reaching sometimes beyond our time on earth.
  
It's odd with my little interest in gardens and gardening the Lord called me to this 'spiritual’ potting shed to sit and contemplate how He is the gardener and has decreed this to be a second year of fallow ground. Wherever I am I can enjoy His Presence, rest and have just returned from His latest provision of a Caribbean cruise. And with this cold weather time I think to place my comfy chair inside the shed and firmly close the door.   In April I wrote about being at a cross roads, but instead of the expected opening up of a future path it has become a time of consolidation. In 1982 I had a dream and a vision that I believe was from the Lord.  As with Joseph circumstances have dictated my/our path, and although it has tarried God has an appointed time to bring it to pass.

I rather like this GPS analogy.  I'll call it God’s Protection and Salvation for travel along His holy highway.   God can find you wherever you are. He never asks us where we've been.  God sets a route most suitable to our needs. He only speaks when we start moving.  God will reveal the way, step by step.  He remains silent until it is time to turn.  God’s voice is calm, He doesn’t accuse or condemn when we take a wrong road.  He will always re-route and put us back on course.

Do you have a dream?  If we seek first His Kingdom, His righteousness, hold it before Him,  He is the one who desires to bring that which is not into being.