You'll Get Through This Part 8

Could it have been more boring?

Some flamboyance would have been nice. A little bit of the Red Sea opening, Jericho's walls tumbling, or was-dead Lazarus walking. A dramatic crisis requires a dramatic response, right? Not always.

We equate spirituality with high drama: Paul raising the dead, Peter healing the sick. Yet for every Paul and Peter, there are a dozen Josephs. Men and women blessed with skills of administration. Steady hands through whom G.o.d saves people. Joseph never raised the dead, but he kept people from dying. He never healed the sick, but he kept sickness from spreading. He made a plan and stuck with it. And because he did, the nation survived. He triumphed with a calm, methodical plan.

In the days leading up to the war with Germany, the British government commissioned a series of posters. The idea was to capture encouraging slogans on paper and distribute them about the country. Capital letters in a distinct typeface were used, and a simple two-color format was selected. The only graphic was the crown of King George VI.

The first poster was distributed in September of 1939: YOUR COURAGE.

YOUR CHEERFULNESS.

YOUR RESOLUTION.

WILL BRING.

US VICTORY.

Soon thereafter a second poster was produced: FREEDOM IS.

IN PERIL.

DEFEND IT.

WITH ALL.

YOUR MIGHT.

These two posters appeared up and down the British countryside. On railroad platforms and in pubs, stores, and restaurants. They were everywhere. A third poster was created yet never distributed. More than 2.5 million copies were printed yet never seen until nearly sixty years later when a bookstore owner in northeast England discovered one in a box of old books he had purchased at an auction. It read: KEEP.

CALM.

AND.

CARRY.

ON.

The poster bore the same crown and style of the first two posters. It was never released to the public, however, but was held in reserve for an extreme crisis, such as invasion by Germany. The bookstore owner framed it and hung it on the wall. It became so popular that the bookstore began producing identical images of the original design on coffee mugs, postcards, and posters. Everyone, it seems, appreciated the reminder from another generation to keep calm and carry on.1 Of all the Bible heroes, Joseph is the one most likely to have hung a copy on his office wall. He indwelt the world of ledgers, flowcharts, end-of-the-year reports, tabulations, and calculations. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year. He kept a cool head and carried on.

You can do the same. You can't control the weather. You aren't in charge of the economy. You can't undo the tsunami or unwreck the car, but you can map out a strategy. Remember, G.o.d is in this crisis. Ask him to give you an index cardsized plan, two or three steps you can take today.

Seek counsel from someone who has faced a similar challenge. Ask friends to pray. Look for resources. Reach out to a support group. Most importantly, make a plan.

Management guru Jim Collins has some good words here. He and Morten T. Hansen studied leadership in turbulent times. They looked at more than twenty thousand companies, sifting through data in search of an answer to this question: Why in uncertain times do some companies thrive while others do not? They concluded, "[Successful leaders] are not more creative. They're not more visionary. They're not more charismatic. They're not more ambitious. They're not more blessed by luck. They're not more risk-seeking. They're not more heroic. And they're not more p.r.o.ne to making big, bold moves." Then what sets them apart? "They all led their teams with a surprising method of self-control in an out-of-control world."2 In the end it's not the flashy and flamboyant who survive. It is those with steady hands and sober minds. People like Roald Amundsen. In 1911, he headed up the Norwegian team in a race to the South Pole. Robert Scott directed a team from England. The two expeditions faced identical challenges and terrain. They endured the same freezing temperatures and unforgiving environment. They had equal access to the technology and equipment of their day. Yet Amundsen and his team reached the South Pole thirty-four days ahead of Scott. What made the difference?

Planning. Amundsen was a tireless strategist. He had a clear strategy of traveling fifteen to twenty miles a day. Good weather? Fifteen to twenty miles. Bad weather? Fifteen to twenty miles. No more. No less. Always fifteen to twenty miles.

Scott, by contrast, was irregular. He pushed his team to exhaustion in good weather and stopped in bad. The two men had two different philosophies and, consequently, two different outcomes. Amundsen won the race without losing a man. Scott lost not only the race but also his life and the lives of all his team members.3 All for the lack of a good plan.

You'd prefer a miracle for your crisis? You'd rather see the bread multiplied or the stormy sea turned gla.s.sy calm in a finger snap? G.o.d may do this.

Then, again, he may tell you, "I'm with you. I can use this for good. Now let's make a plan." Trust him to help you.

G.o.d's sovereignty doesn't negate our responsibility. Just the opposite. It empowers it. When we trust G.o.d, we think more clearly and react more decisively. Like Nehemiah, who said, "We prayed to our G.o.d and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat" (Neh. 4:9 NIV).

We prayed . . . and posted. We trusted and acted. Trust G.o.d to do what you can't. Obey G.o.d, and do what you can.

Don't let the crisis paralyze you. Don't let the sadness overwhelm you. Don't let the fear intimidate you. To do nothing is the wrong thing. To do something is the right thing. And to believe is the highest thing. Just . . .

KEEP.

CALM.

AND.

CARRY.

ON.

CHAPTER 15.

Evil. G.o.d. Good.

Life turns every person upside down. No one escapes unscathed. Not the woman who discovers her husband is having an affair. Not the businessman whose investments are embezzled by a crooked colleague. Not the teenager who discovers that a night of romance has resulted in a surprise pregnancy. Not the pastor who feels his faith shaken by questions of suffering and fear.

We'd be foolish to think we are invulnerable.

But we'd be just as foolish to think that evil wins the day.

The Bible vibrates with the steady drumbeat of faith: G.o.d recycles evil into righteousness. Perhaps you read this book in search of a quick fix for your challenges. "How to Overcome Obstacles in Five Easy Steps." Sorry to disappoint. I don't have an easy solution or a magic wand. I have found something-Someone-far better. G.o.d himself. When G.o.d gets in the middle of life, evil becomes good.

Haven't we discovered this in the story of Joseph? Saddled with setbacks: family rejection, deportation, slavery, and imprisonment. Yet he emerged triumphant, a hero of his generation. Among his final recorded words are these comments to his brothers: "You meant evil against me; but G.o.d meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20).

This is the repeated pattern in Scripture: Evil. G.o.d. Good.

Evil came to Job. Tempted him, tested him. Job struggled. But G.o.d countered. He spoke truth. Declared sovereignty. Job in the end chose G.o.d. Satan's prime target became G.o.d's star witness. Good resulted.

Evil came to Moses. Convinced him to murder an Egyptian guard, liberate a people with anger. G.o.d countered. He placed Moses on a forty-year cooldown. Moses in the end chose G.o.d. He liberated like a shepherd, not a soldier. Good resulted.

Evil came to David: he committed adultery; to Daniel: he was dragged to a foreign land; to Nehemiah: the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed.

But G.o.d countered. And because he did, David wrote songs of grace, Daniel ruled in a foreign land, and Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem's walls with Babylonian lumber.

Good happened.

And Jesus. How many times in his earthly life did bad become good?

The Bethlehem innkeeper told Jesus' parents to try their luck in the barn. That was bad. G.o.d entered the world in the humblest place on earth. That was good.

The wedding had no wine. Bad. The wedding guests witnessed the first miracle of Jesus. Good.

The storm scared the faith out of the apostles. Bad. The sight of water-walking Jesus turned them into worshippers. Good.

Five thousand men needed food for their families. Bad day to be a disciple. Jesus turned a basket into a bakery. Good day to be a disciple.

With Jesus, bad became good just as night becomes day-regularly, reliably, refreshingly. And redemptively.

See the cross on the hill? Can you hear the soldiers pound the nails? Jesus' enemies smirk. Satan's demons lurk. All that is evil rubs its hands in glee. "This time," Satan whispers. "This time I will win."

For a sad Friday and a silent Sat.u.r.day it appeared he had. The final breath. The battered body. Mary wept. Blood seeped down the timber into the dirt. Followers lowered G.o.d's Son before the sun set. Soldiers sealed the tomb, and night fell over the earth.

Yet what Satan intended as the ultimate evil, G.o.d used for the ultimate good. G.o.d rolled the rock away. Jesus walked out on Sunday morning, a smile on his face and a bounce to his steps. And if you look closely, you can see Satan scampering from the cemetery with his forked tail between his legs.

"Will I ever win?" he grumbles.

No. He won't. The stories of Jesus, Joseph, and a thousand others a.s.sure us that what Satan intends for evil, G.o.d uses for good.

My friend Christine Caine is walking proof of this promise. She is an Australian spark plug. Five feet three inches of energy, pa.s.sion, and love. To sit down with Christine is to share a meal with a modern-day Joseph. She is at war with one of the greatest calamities of our generation: s.e.x slavery. She travels three hundred days a year. She meets with cabinets, presidents, and parliaments. She stares down pimps and defies organized crime. With G.o.d as her helper, she will see s.e.x slavery brought to its knees.

Pretty impressive for a girl whose world was turned upside down. At the age of thirty she stumbled upon the stunning news of her adoption. The couple who raised her never intended for her to know. When Christine happened upon the truth, she tracked down her biological parents.

The official records of her birth told her this much: she was born to a Greek mother named Panagiota. The box designated "Father's Name" bore the word "Unknown." Christine recounts how she "lingered over this word, trying to understand how someone so important to me could be reduced to simply this . . . Seven letters, one word, and that single word seemed so inadequate."1 But there was more. Next to the box marked "Child's Name" was another seven-letter word. It sucked the air out of Christine. "Unnamed."

Father "unknown." Child "unnamed." According to the doc.u.ment, Christine Caine was simply this: "birth number 2508 of the year 1966."2 Abandoned by those who conceived and bore you. Could anything be worse? Actually, yes. To be s.e.xually abused by members of your family. Time and time again they took advantage of her. They turned her childhood into a horror story of one encounter after another. Twelve years of unbridled and ugly evil.

Yet what they intended for evil, G.o.d used for good. Christine chose to heed not the hurts of her past but the promise of her heavenly Father. She laid hold of Isaiah 49: "The LORD has called Me from the womb; from the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name" (v. 1). Christine made a Joseph-like decision to believe in the G.o.d who believed in her.

Years later when she heard of the plight of girls caught in the s.e.x trade, she knew she had to respond. When she saw their faces on missing-person posters and heard of the abuse at the hands of captors, this unnamed, abused girl set out to rescue the nameless and abused girls of her day. Satan's plan to destroy her actually emboldened her resolve to help others. Her A21 Mission has offices around the world. They combat "human trafficking, establish prevention programs in schools and orphanages, represent victims as legal advocates, and give them refuge-in safe houses, then restoration in transition homes."3 As of the writing of these words, several hundred young women have been a.s.sisted and released.4 Once again, what Satan intended for evil, G.o.d . . . Well, you know the rest.

Or do you? Do you believe that no evil is beyond G.o.d's reach? That he can redeem every pit, including this one in which you find yourself?

What if Joseph had given up on G.o.d? Lord knows, he could have turned his back on heaven. At any point along his broken road, he could have turned sour and walked away. "No more. No more. I'm out."

You could give up on G.o.d as well. The cemetery of hope is over-populated with sour souls who have settled for a small G.o.d. Don't be among them.

G.o.d sees a Joseph in you. Yes, you! You in the pit. You with your family full of flops and failures. You incarcerated in your own version of an Egyptian jail. G.o.d is speaking to you.

Your family needs a Joseph, a courier of grace in a day of anger and revenge. Your descendants need a Joseph, a st.u.r.dy link in the chain of faith. Your generation needs a Joseph. There is a famine out there. Will you harvest hope and distribute it to the people? Will you be a Joseph?

Trust G.o.d. No, really trust him. He will get you through this. Will it be easy or quick? I hope so. But it seldom is. Yet G.o.d will make good out of this mess.

That's his job.

Questions

for Reflection

Prepared by CHRISTINE M. ANDERSON

CHAPTER 1.

You'll Get Through This 1. Three times at the beginning of the chapter, we read these lines: "You'll get through this. It won't be painless. It won't be quick. But G.o.d will use this mess for good. In the meantime don't be foolish or naive. But don't despair either. With G.o.d's help you will get through this."

a. Consider each sentence one at a time. Which is most comforting or encouraging to you? Which, if any, do you wish Max hadn't included? Why?

b. Max offers these words of a.s.surance to three people in diverse situations: a woman with three children whose husband has left her, a middle-aged man fired for offensive comments, and a teenager forced to choose between her mother and father. How would you summarize in one sentence the difficult situation you face right now or one you have faced in the past?

c. Max tells us three things not to do. Which negative word below do you relate to most? Which represents the greatest temptation for you now, or which is most characteristic of you when you are in a difficult situation?

Foolish: I am tempted to be or have been thoughtless, reckless, shortsighted, lacking in wisdom and good judgment, or impulsive in my behavior.

Naive: I am tempted to be or have been willfully ignorant of negative reality, lacking in discernment and critical judgment, blind to the impact of my words or behavior, or engaged in an unrealistic view of the world and human nature.

Despairing: I am tempted to be or have been unwilling to receive comfort or care from others. I am p.r.o.ne to feel hopeless, desolate, despondent, helpless, or miserable.

Other: 2. Read Genesis 37, which provides critical background about Joseph's family and details about his abduction and sale into slavery in Egypt.

a. The story features three primary characters: the brothers (as a whole), Joseph, and Jacob. Which of the "don't" words from question 1 best describes each of the three characters?

The brothers are .

Joseph is .

Jacob is .

b. Use the word you chose from question 1, and the character from Genesis 37 who best ill.u.s.trates that word, to reflect on how you face difficulties. For example, if you chose "despairing," what similarities do you see between yourself and the despairing character you identified? What insights about your words, actions, or situation does this character provide? (You may wish to reread Genesis 37, paying particular attention to this character's words, actions, and situation.) c. In what area, if any, do you resist being identified with this character? Why?

3. At the end of Genesis 37, Joseph finds himself in Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, whose root means "to border, shut, or limit."1 It evokes the image of a very narrow or tight place. We could say that Joseph's Egypt-his Mitzrayim-began the minute he was thrown into the pit. And the tight places kept coming-slavery, entrapment, prison.