During the time we have been studying Psalm 23 and 1 Peter 5:1-11 an impact thought developed in my mind. It came together in a discussion my wife and I were having over a cup of coffee one morning.
Here it is: God wants me to walk, work and worship with divine clarity while living in the midst of human ambiguity and ambivalence.
There is such a tendency to get preoccupied with the details of the ambiguity and ambivalence surrounding me and arising in my own mind and heart. The way to break free from this is to focus on discovering God’s will and walking, working and worshipping in the truth.
One who demonstrated this is Joseph in the Old Testament. Remember, while on an errand for his father, his brothers, who were jealous of him, sold him into slavery. He ended up in the household of a wealthy man in Egypt. He determined to make the most of his situation and served his master diligently. Impressed, his master turned over the management of all he possessed to Joseph. His wife, however, wanted to have an affair with Joseph, and when he refused, she accused him of trying to rape her.
He was thrown into prison for this. There he again made the most of his situation, and the prison keeper put him in charge of the prison. Though seemingly forgotten in prison, he lived with divine clarity. Through the gift of interpreting dreams he was released and raised to the position of being second in power to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. There was plenty of ambiguity and ambivalence in his life, but he chose to live with divine clarity.
