OVER MY HEAD

DAY 19: I'm was in one of those situations where I was completely over my head.  I wish I were talking about the deep end of the pool, but I'm referring to the deep end of life. One place is in helping a dear family deal with all of the medical fallout that comes when someone you love suffers a stroke, I was severely out of my depth. With no medical training and no experience in this kind of matter it feels like the blind leading the blind.  Yet they are first generation Americans and they were depending on me to find a way to get the best care for their beloved wife and mother.

I had been doing the best I can, but in so many ways my efforts had just not been good enough. Once I realized that, God let me in on a secret as I read from Genesis 41.  Things had not been going so well for Joseph either.  You remember, he was the boy with the coat of many colors who made his brothers so jealous they sold him into slavery in Egypt.  After a false accusation from his master's wife, and then a two-year stay in prison, Joseph had a chance to turn things around when the Pharaoh found himself in desperate need.  The ruler had some terrifying dreams and was desperate to know their meaning.  Enter Joseph, whom he heard could interpret dreams.

But when Joseph looked at the situation he only had one response:  v15 "It is beyond my power to do this." 

He is speaking my language, only I would like to preface that with, "Are you crazy?!!?  It is beyond my power to do this."Then I might launch off on a laundry list of reasons why it is beyond my power. I think it's natural when we feel that something has been put on our plate that is too big that we rehearse why it is impossible.  But no one every found faith or courage reciting the obstacles over and over.

Joseph looked logically at his situation and realized his own limitations.  v 15-16 "It is beyond my power to do this."  Then he looked up and replied, "BUT GOD WILL..." 

God had a purpose for using Joseph to carry out this task at this particular time.  The fact that Joseph was not "able" on his own wasn't an issue for God. He never intended for Joseph to draw on his own power to do God's will.  Because Joseph knew this, he didn't throw up his hands and say, "It is beyond my power to do this.  You better call someone else."  He threw up his hands and called on God.

As I sat blurry eyed, exhausted and not sure how to make the right decisions, I'm was and am thankful God reminds me that the things He calls me to do, HE will do.  Knowing that, I would even go so far as to suggest that if, as a follower of Jesus Christ, we are only doing things in our lives that we feel are perfectly within our own power, we may not actually be doing the work God has planned for us to do- at least not all of it.  

There should always be places in our lives that are beyond, even far beyond, our power to accomplish; because when we come to the end of ourselves, that is where God begins to work.



 Is there anything God is asking you to do that is "beyond your power?"  Share your thoughts and share our blog with the links below.  

Day 19 of 365
Genesis 39
Genesis 40
Genesis 41:1-16
Matthew 12:46-50
Matthew 13:1-23
Psalm 17:1-15
Proverbs 3:33-35


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