27 Apr God’s School of Faith

A friend sent me a sermon called God’s School of Faith referencing Joshua 24:1-4

“Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.” Joshua 24:1-4

The passage takes place in Egypt after Moses died and during the time Joshua was the leader. Joshua spoke to all the people before he died, recalling the memory of the chosen and prophesying the word of the Lord. He spoke of the descendants of Abraham; Isaac who then had Jacob and Esau. Jacob was the chosen son of the two, yet Isaac assigned the hill country to Esau while Jacob was sent to Egypt. Pastor Jim Cymbala spoke about why God would send Jacob to Egypt given that Jacob was the well liked son. But, Jacob was sent to Egypt so he could be taught a lesson about life, find faith when things got difficult and so he could develop character using this hardship.

Thinking back to all the people in the bible, they all suffered in some way, especially Jesus. And, from all the suffering that happens throughout the old and new testament, God is glorified and His followers were blessed.

I love how God is pulling us out of our comfort zone, the comfort of having a baby without complications and the assumption that because we want one now that is what what we will get. The pastor spoke to these points that is a good reminder of what Colby and I will learn on this journey:

• We learn to have faith when everything is going against us and all we have is God’s promise.
• We learn to pray when we have nowhere to go.
• We learn a testimony when we go through such a struggle, which we can then share with others.

I pray that we can continue to trust and have faith in God, learn to pray more and use our testimony to bring glory to the author of our story. I pray that during this trial God is glorified and we can see His goodness in it all. I pray that we will learn to be a couple of faith, just as Jacob was a man of faith. I pray one day we will look back on this trial and see God’s work in it all.