Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
When you were a child, did God give you a special message? Not like a prophet (Jeremiah was called from the womb of his mother), but some special conviction that you were to be a servant of His in some way? God calls youth even today; young hearts are impressible by the Holy Spirit.
But if Satan knows you have been so called, he will try to harass you to get you to abandon your dreams. When Joseph as a child naively told his dreams to his older brothers and his father (Gen. 37), Satan listened and determined to make life as miserable as possible for Joseph, to break his allegiance to God.
The enemy inspired his older brothers to sell him into slavery in Egypt. On that same day as the teenager sat in chains on his way there, his soul thrilled with a resolve that he would dedicate his life to the God of his fathers. Plenty of tears, yes; but no bitter rebellion, no hateful prayer that God take His Holy Spirit away from him and never come back. Remembering his childhood dreams, he consecrated his entire life to God and by the grace of Christ chose to be cheerful and trustful--come what may.
Whoever you are, young or old, you are also chosen by God to be His special agent in some way. You feel unworthy? Well, God's problem is that He can't find anybody who is worthy. There is somebody somewhere who needs a message of encouragement from Christ, but He has a problem that is detailed in 1 Corinthians 12:21: "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'" If the Head is Christ, who are the feet? We are! It's humbling to read that the Head needs us!
Joseph re-created the story of Job. When he refused to transgress the holy law of God by yielding to the charm of Potiphar's wife (it was a powerful temptation, or else he wouldn't have run for his life), Satan tortured his soul again by having him thrust into prison.
It's quite possible that you too have the privilege of honoring Christ in some severe trial. The Head needs you.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 5, 2001.
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