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Topic: Time (11/15/12)
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TITLE: CONNECTING THE DOTS | Previous Challenge Entry
By Enitan Femi-Obasan
11/21/12 -
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Abraham was seventy-five when God promised he would have a child with his wife Sarah. God told him "I will make you the father of nations." One year, two years, five years passed. No sign of the child. Ten years, fifteen years went by. There was a baby alright but it wasn't Sarah's. Twenty-five years later, when they were both old and gray, God fulfilled His promise and Isaac was born.
Abraham's grandson, Jacob, didn't have a smooth sail either. He worked seven years for the love of his life only to be conned by his uncle. He got the sister who didn’t have sparkles in her eyes as it was not the custom to marry off the younger daughter ahead of the firstborn.
A week after he got married to Leah, he was given Rachael. He must have thought life would be perfect. Boy, he was in for a rude shock. Having babies with Rachael was more difficult than he had imagined. Rachael didn't make things any easier for she told him "Give me children or I’ll die." At last, at the fullness of time, God remembered her and gave her Joseph.
Joseph was a daddy's boy. He even got a special coat of many colours as a gift from his dad. At seventeen, he had a dream that the sun, moon and stars bowed to him. His brothers were jealous that their father loved him plus his dreams ticked them off so much that they planned to get rid of him anyhow. As soon as they had the opportunity, they sold him off. In a flash, daddy's boy became a slave boy. As a slave in Egypt, he worked with Potiphar, the captain of the king's army, was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and thrown in jail.
Years later, Pharaoh had a dream which none of his wise men had an interpretation for. Just then, Joseph was mentioned as a fine interpreter of dreams. Finally, he got his chance. Pharaoh was so impressed at Joseph's wisdom that he made him his assistant. He became governor of Egypt at thirty.
It was probably some nine years later, when the famine predicted by Joseph was biting hard, that his brothers came to Egypt to buy some food. When they got to the governor, they bowed as a sign of respect. Unknown to them, the governor was their brother, Joseph. As they bowed, Joseph remembered the dreams he had some twenty-two years before.
Connecting the dots, you realize that if Abraham had given birth to Isaac earlier, Isaac probably wouldn't have married Jacob's mum, who was the sister of Laban, Jacob's father-in-law. God did not allow Rachael have any babies for many years because Joseph had to have brothers big enough to sell him off into slavery. He had to be in prison when the king had a dream (talk about being in the right place at the right time)in order to become the governor. If Joseph was not the governor in Egypt at the time of the famine, Jacob and his family would never have moved there and God's promise to Abraham would never have been fulfilled.
God's promise to you is for an appointed time. You might have an early revelation but God will not move until the fullness of time. You only need to wait patiently on Him and for Him. At the end of it all, you will connect the dots.
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God bless!
Creatively, it might have been a good idea to focus on one of these stories and write a fictional account from the perspective of one of the Bible characters you mentioned. But the overall point was delivered well. Keep writing!
It was interesting to think about the connections you made between the struggles faced by these Biblical characters and the blessings God intended through these "delays".
Thanks. God Bless~