We will wait!

Have you ever found yourself in a job you just really aren't sure why you are there?

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who isn't sure why they are still working at the place they are working. There is all kinds of internal turmoil, they aren't really very passionate about the work, there is some job satisfactions when something is well done and they love the people they are working with, but it just really isn't fulfilling. So the question comes up, well why don't you switch jobs? Because I don't really know what I want to do if I did switch.

I have had these conversations with other friends who are pastors as well. The questions coming up in these conversations come more from frustrations with the way things are going in the church. It might be troublesome members, but usually it has more to do with the vision they have of what ministry could be and the obstacles in getting there. I have these thoughts from time to time. If only I had the right people involved in youth ministry. If only we could make the main worship service more inspiring for teenagers. If only our elders, staff, and leadership had a truly clear sense of the mission for our church, especially if it matched my vision we could really be going places.

This conversation reminded me of what I read in Gen chap 40. Joseph has taken the wrap for the seduction of Potiphar's wife. He is thrown into prison. One of the most interesting details in this story is the prison is the the house of the chief of the guard. Now I have heard the story told with the suggestion potiphar didn't really believe his wife, because he didn't have Joseph killed on the spot. This seemed to make sense, but it is even clearer when you consider who the chief of the guard is. It's Potiphar! Joseph is still in Potiphar's house! He is in the dungeon to be sure. He is no longer running the household, but he is running the prison. In fact when the Pharaoh's cup bearer and baker get thrown in prison the bible says the Chief of the guard, Potiphar, places them under Joseph! This is just so bizarre. Joseph is still running things for Potiphar.

So Joseph tells the cup bearer, let pharoah know about my gift, let him know I'm stuck here. He doesn't want to remain in prison even though he is in charge and still working for the same boss. He has got to be desperate to get out of there. He has a God given vision of what his life and ministry are to look like. But he can't seem to get anyone else to see the picture. So he is stuck working for the same guy in a demoted situation and pleading for the cup bearer to remember him and get him out of there.

Sometimes when we want change so bad we can taste it, the answer we get from on high is wait. I'm not talking about your boss or supervisor of course they are going to say wait, or rather do what I say and don't rock the boat. I'm talking about God. We are working our fingers to the bone, we have gotten as far as we think we can get, our desire is to do greater things for God, and his answer if wait. I hard for me to even type that word w...a...i...t!

So we wait, and we serve where God has placed us. We find moments and ways in which God's passion burns through us in our current situations. We find moments of supernatural power for understanding dreams and visions and we also continue to serve in the prison. Wait...

OK God, I will wait, my friend will wait, and all of you out there, will you wait? God knew what he had in mind for Joseph and he knows the plans he has for us, not to harm us but to prosper us to give us a hope and a future.

So...we will wait!