JANUARY 19 "WHERE'S GOD?"

 We've heard it before I'm sure, but it is worth repeating...."if God was with Joseph why is he in jail, if God was with Joseph why was he falsely accused in the 1st place". I remember visiting a church from another fellowship one time when I was on deployment in the Marine Corps. After service we had a fellowship and it was brought to my attention that the man that had preached that night was not their Pastor, apparently their Pastor was in Jail! He was in jail for some trumped up charges for sexual abuse. The church members were confident that their Pastor would be vindicated and all charges dropped. I kept my mouth shut, but I thought, "helloooooo....dummies, if he was innocent why would God have even allowed it to go that far, they are in for a rude awakening when they find out he's guilty". In my mind, God would never allow something like that to prevail against one of his sons or daughters, but was I wrong? Joseph is in jail, falsely accused of rape, yet God says "He's with him". Where was God when Jesus was getting his beard ripped out of his face? Where was God when Paul was nearly stoned to death and whipped? Where was God when the martyrs who believed that if they stood for Jesus, they would live, where was God as the lions devoured them alive? I like the mindset of Shadrack and his buddies,"God is able to deliver us from the furnace, but even if he does not..." These Spiritual Giants allowed for the possibility that God might choose not to intervene and look the other way, for one reason or another, but yet they never questioned God's existence or goodness. If God is with me why am I in jail, that's the question? Jail/prison is a place you are locked up and can't get out by your own means, your jail can be ...a sickness, bad marriage, addiction, financial collapse or just simply going through a miserable, hellish season in life and no matter how hard you try and/or pray, you can't get out! The cup bearer that was with Joseph gets out of jail and it is not until 2 years later that he remembers Joseph, can you imagine? When all God had to do is prompt that cup-bearer's memory to remember poor 'ol Joseph, but he doesn't, at least not until 2 yrs later. The point I guess would be that we can still be fruitful and blessed in our jails and as we keep our hearts right with God (this is the hard part), we must have the confidence, that God is not going to leave us there forever, but he doesn't promise to get us out tomorrow either, all He promises is that He is with us, in our jails!