Your Daily Devotional for September 28, 2007

 

September 28,  2007

 

 

Finishing Strong

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."

 

Genesis 50:19-21

 

 

Recently at a grocery store, I saw an advertisement for dog food that would help prepare dogs for mid-life crisis. We may laugh at that, but it is true that in each of our lives, we will face times of crisis or difficulties. While there isn't a certain type of food we can eat to help us in these situations, God desires to help us.

 

Everyone faces crisis times in their lives. Often these are generated by Satan himself to get us to fall. One area Satan will attack is our endurance. We may be living for God and serving Him with joy, yet Satan desires to sidetrack us. While God calls us to finish our race for Him, Satan desires that we would fall from the race.

 

There is no guarantee that every Christian will finish their life in a strong way spiritually. The Scriptures are filled with illustrations of men who did not finish for God. In the book of Numbers, Moses chose twelve men to spy out the Promised Land. While two men came back with faith that God would provide, ten of those men came back with a fearful report. Israel waited forty years to see the Promised Land because of ten men who had started strong but did not end in faith.

 

I believe most people would want to say what the apostle Paul said at the end of his life as we see in 2 Timothy 4:6-7, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." After all he had been through, Paul could say that he had remained faithful and had finished his race strong.

 

Few men in the Bible have run a race such as Joseph. Even though Joseph was doing right and honoring God, he was mistreated and hated by his brothers. Some may question God's goodness to Joseph, but Joseph continued serving God even when things didn't make sense to him.

 

Joseph was a man who finished his race and he really pictures the way that Jesus finished His race. Joseph was rejected by his brothers, so was Jesus. Joseph was victorious over temptation, so was Jesus. Joseph was taken into custody because of a false witness, so was Jesus. And Joseph suffered for doing what was right, so did Jesus. If there was ever a man in the Bible who could justify quitting, it would have been Joseph. No matter how he tried to do right, things turned out bad. Yet, in the last chapter of Genesis we see Joseph finishing his race with a sweet spirit. Over the next few days we will see how Joseph remained faithful to God and finished his race strong.

 

How are you doing in your race today? Has something come into your life that has sidetracked you? Joseph was sold into slavery, yet remained faithful to God! We must keep our eyes on Christ and continue serving Him even when we don't understand what He's doing in our lives. Take time right now to get alone with God. Ask Him for help to finish your race strong like Paul and Joseph. We cannot remain faithful to Him on our own; we need His help each day.

 

 

 

Daily Bible Reading

Isaiah 5-6 • Ephesians 1

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