Confluence

So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: ‘Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin – the wrong they have caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him. Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves.”

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result – the survival of many people. Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. --Genesis 50:16-21

This is a theme that I come back to time and again. Understanding this concurrence between the will of man and the will of God was vital to me early in my life as a Christian. Yet, as convinced as I am of its truth, I still find myself struggling with it in daily practice.

It’s not the power and foresight of God that trouble me. I can believe that the manager of a baseball team will make the right moves, but there remains drama in the execution because, when it comes right down to it, it must be up to the hitters, the pitchers and the fielders. An analogy to baseball is inadequate but it illustrates the aspect that bothers me. When you think about it, how often has God’s plan through the ages hung by a thread? We have no idea how many times history has turned on a single decision by a single individual.

What if Joseph had been sold into slavery and decided to give it all up? What if he had abandoned his principles and taken advantage of the opportunity offered by Potiphar’s wife? What if his years in Egypt had left him callous and vindictive? What if being the prime minister of the most powerful empire on earth had gone to Joseph’s head? Does God have Plan B?

When Mordecai spoke to Esther about her role in delivering her people, he believed that if she failed to fulfill her purpose, God would raise up another deliverer for the Jews. Perhaps that is true. Certainly it appears that God has worked this way in times past, through the many dead-ends of evolution and the cyclical failures of human history. In the long run, God’s plan and purpose cannot be thwarted, and while that is reassuring in a general sense, it is less satisfying from my limited perspective.

If we consider the current state of the world, we realize that momentous decisions are being made by people who are apathetic or even antagonistic to the One True God – not in some limited sectarian sense, but they simply do not value absolute truth, and thus the foundation of that truth. Their decisions are based on political expediency and personal gain. This is nothing new. God must always work with such people, from Pharoah to Nero to Bozo. The scary thing is that I can fulfill my destiny regardless of how badly the politicians and the journalists screw things up.

Why is that scary? Consider that, however unlikely, we could find ourselves following the Lord through collapse and chaos, poverty, persecution, even unto death. At best we are likely to become more “European”, less free and independent, saddled with inflation and higher taxes. But our call to obedience will not lessen. I will still be able to pray and seek God. I will continue to be His child. I will still love my brothers and sisters. God isn’t going to change. Even if our branch of history has hit a wall, even if we have to take some steps back in terms of liberty and prosperity, the kingdom of God will move on.

It may seem that we have dead-ended. If that happens, the temptation will be great for me to say that my individual decisions no longer matter. And they may not. That’s the mystery of concurrence. But what I say, what I do, how I live, and my attitude toward God may, on the other hand, be some obscure, but pivotal point on which the doors of history swing. From inside I have no way of knowing. Could Joseph have seen his positive and godly attitude in Pharoah’s dungeons would save a nation? Could an unknown Roman soldier have understood the significance of plunging his spear into a dead man’s side? Could the individual soldiers of the 20th Maine have realized the weight of history that turned on a little rocky hill that 2nd of July? While I will never be in as significant a position as these people, I have no way of knowing how or where the little ripples that go out from my life might strike someone who does have a critical role to play.

Not knowing, I trust, and obey.


Its a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps they're better left unsung.
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.

Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again,
Let it be known there is a fountain,
That was not made by the hands of men.

There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone.

Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.

From “Ripple” – The Grateful Dead