Overwhelmed - by Circumstances

Overwhelmed - by Circumstances
By Victoria Boyson www.boyson.org

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing—James 1:2-4 NLT

The story of Cinderella is a poignant one, because many of the key elements in the story can be found in the lives of people God has raised up for His glory and purpose.

Note to all men reading this: Now, before all you gentlemen quit reading because I've mentioned Cinderella, please stick with me and I'll show you a Cinderella-type man in Scripture.

Cinderella was a girl whose mother had died when she was young, but was dearly loved by her wealthy father; she lived well and was favored and loved by him. Truly, her life was blessed and she had everything she needed, but her father didn't think so. He married again to give her a mother and family. But shortly after he remarried, he died.

Her father, I'm sure, had no way of knowing how he would devastate his daughter's life by the decision he made to take a new wife. Suddenly, at her father's death, her life was tragically altered. She not only lost her father, her home and her position in her family, she was also stripped of her own personal identity.

She, herself, had not changed. But, through the actions of her step family, she, who'd once been a loved and favored daughter, now became a servant. She was no longer loved and honored, but rejected and abused—a continual outcast in her own home.

It's one thing to be robbed and cast out, but to have to stay and serve those who robbed you is quite another. To sit and have to watch them enjoying or even mistreating things you once cherished would be extremely difficult. And the longing to feel a part of the family, yet never having that longing fulfilled is like experiencing a continual wounding with no time to heal. It would force you to try anything to get them to love you. Yet, the more you would try, the more they would despise you.

According to some versions of this classic tale, Cinderella attempted to go to a royal ball at the palace with her step-mom and sisters in an old dress of her mother's. Her sisters, being spurred on by their mother, tore her dress to pieces, leaving her in rags. They literally and emotionally stripped her of all she knew and was in life; they left her nothing. She was stunned, emotionally numb, alone and devastated by their actions.

But here's where her story takes a surprising turn. At the moment she'd reached her lowest point, she met her fairy godmother, who begins at once to transform Cinderella's world. The fairy godmother came to her in her moment of despair and showed her love, which is what Cinderella needed the most.

"Cinderella Man"

If you remember the story of Joseph in Genesis 37 and Genesis 39-45, he was a most beloved and favored son of his father, Jacob. His mother died giving birth to his younger brother, but he still had the love of his father, and oh how Jacob loved him. He gave Joseph many privileges and gifts his brothers did not get. Most importantly, he gave Joseph his love (Genesis 37:3). This created heated jealousy in his brothers toward him; they hated him for it, so much so they planned to murder him (Genesis 37:20). Through a twist of fate, instead of murdering him, they sold him as a slave—perhaps a fate worse than death (Genesis 37:21-28).

Joseph spent 13 years as a slave—as someone's property and a prisoner. He was accused of being a degenerate going after his master's wife, when in reality, the opposite was true (Genesis 39:6-20). His life had been stripped from him physically and emotionally. No longer a most beloved, favored son—now owned and wrongfully imprisoned.

If anyone had the right to become angry and bitter, it was Joseph. The Lord had shown him amazing visions and dreams of all he would do in his future (Genesis 37:5-11), yet his life went in the complete opposite direction for years. It could have seemed to him that God had tricked him or lied to him, but Joseph clung to his faith in God (Genesis 39:2-5 and Genesis 39:21-23).

All that was taken from him and done to him turned out to be the preparation for the fulfillment of his dreams. As he said to his brothers, "Don't be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives" (Genesis 45:5). He continued, "So it was God who sent me here, not you!" (Genesis 45:8).

Reflecting over the years Joseph had spent in Egypt, instead of blaming his brothers for all he'd endured, he saw their hateful actions as tools in the Lord's hands to prepare him to rescue millions (Genesis 45:6-7). Joseph's life changed dramatically, went from being the favored son of his father to a lowly slave and prisoner, and then suddenly became second in power over the world he lived in (Genesis 45:8).

Cinderella's transformation was as swift and as telling. From beloved daughter - to - slave - to princess who ruled alongside her husband. They were both stripped of all they knew and held dear, but we see in the end that the ill treatment they endured prepared and equipped them for their great destiny.

Why did God allow Joseph to go through such severe testing you may ask? Well, in Scripture we find examples of those raised to greatness without the preparation, only to fall and lose sight of what really mattered.

King Solomon, son of King David, was the richest, wisest man in history (1 Kings 3:11-14). He inherited his father's kingdom, which was great indeed, and God blessed him with even more (1 Kings 3:11-14). However, he did not have the preparation for the throne that his father had. David went from shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11) - to warrior (1 Samuel 18:5-7) - son-in-law to the king (1 Samuel 18:17-27) - escaped fugitive, running for his life (1 Samuel 19-24) - living in caves (1 Samuel 22:1-2) - pretending to be a madman (1 Samuel 21:13) - having his wives taken from him (1 Samuel 30:1-5) - being despised and rejected (1 Samuel 4-8) and then suddenly to be made king of all Israel (2 Samuel 5:1-5).

We see however, in King Solomon's life, that because he didn't have to endure what his father did, he fell away from God later in his life (1 Kings 11:4-6). "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36 NAS). What benefit were Solomon's vast wisdom, riches and fame if it cost him his relationship with God?

Clinging to God's Love

Many of you have been going through a similar stripping process. You are confused and hurt, you may even feel at times abandoned by God. What often hurts the most is the continual betrayal by those who should love you, but don't. It hurts to see the hardness of other's toward you as though you don't matter. At times, you've felt psychologically numb due to the actions of others.

Yet, though you've been stripped, robbed or betrayed you still cling to God, because going through your own personal anguish without Him is even more unthinkable. In the midst of your desperation, you find you still have the one thing that truly matters—you still have God. And, He then, becomes your everything and you feel like the wealthiest person in the world.

Indeed, through all your trials, you are being prepared for your destiny, and it will be great. One day you will look back on this time, like Joseph, and see that God has used it all to prepare you for your future. Knowing your destiny was great, He wanted you to be prepared, so you would not fall when the real test comes: the test of success.

And so He wouldn't lose you in the midst of all the blessings He longs to give you, He needed to make sure your foundation was solidly grounded in Him, that your faith was thoroughly tried.

If you find yourself in similar circumstances, then know: you are truly loved by your heavenly Father, resting in the palm of His hand. Your life belongs to Him and He will see that you are ready for the untold blessings He's kept in readiness for you, anticipating your destiny. You are His beloved and favored child - you belong to Him - His special creation.

Maybe you can see images of your own life in the story of Cinderella, or perhaps Joseph's story is far too familiar to your own. To whatever degree you can relate to him, remember his story changed as he clung to God. Our story, too, takes on a new and rich purpose when we meet with God. He makes all things new, even the painful events of our past. He makes beauty from the ashes of our lives (Isaiah 61:3). So, wherever you are, surrender your ashes to Him and watch Him make something beautiful of your life.

Please pray this with me: Dear Father, I need You. You are all I have, You are everything to me. Comfort me and make something beautiful from my life. I surrender all that I am into Your hands and I ask that You fill me with all of You. Whatever You have for me, I receive with open arms because I know it's from You and I trust You with my life.