Ps 75:6-7 "No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. 7 But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another." NIV
Have you ever been in a situation where your heart was set on reaching a new position through promotion or hiring either in work or in the body of Christ? Have you ever watched as someone else was chosen and you were overlooked or passed by? Have you ever been denied that opportunity and struggled to keep your heart right concerning the people who were chosen? This passage is powerful for its ability to place our focus in the right direction and turn our hearts towards a place of rest. The simple message is that no man should be the attention of your frustration or disappointment in regard to being chosen for a desirable position. It is God and God alone that exalts a man.
When our hearts are able to accept this reality it is a powerful revelation that greatly aids our hearts. So many people endure the experience of being overlooked or passed by as a great blow to their self-esteem and their hearts are tempted with thoughts of bitterness towards those who have chosen someone else instead of them! When surrender to the fact that God is at work in either experience our acceptance or the experience of passing us by then we can turn to a new way of thinking in our inner most being. “You mean man didn’t reject me?” Correct! “You mean God was the one who withheld the release of favor in the eyes of man?” Exactly! We must accept that it is God who gives favor or withholds it. It is God who is at work and He always has a plan.
To accept that it is God who has withheld promotion or favor can be threatening to our hearts if we relate to favor in the eyes of men as a statement of our worth. This happens most often when we have associated our identity and value in life with how men treat us and the favor we enjoy before them. But here is the foundational truth; the withholding of something is not a statement of your worth in the eyes of God! God is more interested in your spiritual development and maturity than He is in making you either rich or famous! Yes he cares about your prosperity but His first desire is that your soul prospers and that your spirit flourishes!!!
In addition to that God is at work to arrange the times and seasons of our lives so as to accomplish his sovereign purposes. Consider Joseph, he was betrayed by jealous family members, sold into slavery in a foreign land, falsely accused, imprisoned as a result over the course of 13 long years or potential disappointment, all of the while holding on to a prophetic dream that had promised him that he would be the leader over his whole family! Now that is a trial! To have a promise of great success only to watch your whole life fall apart and to be left in a prison isolated from all the people that you have known and loved. Welcome to the “Holy Spirit Academy of Spiritual Development”, growth through suffering, maturity through overcoming emotional pain and conflict! Do you want to enroll? No, well sorry, the moment you became a Christian you put your name on the contract! God is at work! Joseph was still believing the Lord’s promise, even while in the dungeon, and God still found a way to stretch his faith a little more. Two prisoners with positions in the king’s household each had a dream and Joseph interpreted those dreams for them. Out of gratitude the one man promised that when he was restored to his position he would help Joseph, well… he forgot! God is at work. “Wait a little longer Joseph!” “Keep your heart right Joseph!” God is at work. Man’s timing and God’s timing are seldom the same and God uses the difference of opinion to train us in patience and perseverance! Stop looking to man. Stop complaining in your heart! God is at work and His ways are perfect!
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