Stepping Out in Faith // Don't Miss God's Opportunities, Part 3

There are times in life when opportunities seem to have passed us by. You’ve done the right things while travelling the hard road, and yet still … things don’t seem to go your way. What is going on?

A Missed Opportunity?

We all have hopes and dreams – and you know how it goes. They bubble away in our hearts, we do a lot of day–dreaming about our dreams, we paint the picture, imagine what it will be like when our dream is realised. And little by little things seem to be heading in the right direction, and then things take a turn for the worse. It’s in that moment, that I’d like to spend some time with you today, because those moments are as difficult as they come.

I was in one of those places recently, it was a ministry thing, a relationship we were working on with another ministry organisation. It’s something we’d put quite a lot of effort into and we’d hoped that it would go really well, and then on the mourning, I was preparing today’s message in fact, things took a turn for the worse.

The details aren’t important, but you should know that we all go through this from time to time. I certainly do and I know you’ve been there too, right? And we’re going to find ourselves in that moment again one day.

Over the last week on the program/ over the last few weeks on the program we’ve been taking a look at how to make sure that we don’t miss God’s opportunities. And we’ve been doing that by travelling a way along the path with young Joseph, the son of Jacob or Israel as he became known, in the Old Testament. Because Joseph had more than enough reasons to give up on God’s opportunities.

Love by his father, his brothers turned against him and plotted to kill him because he was dad’s favourite. Eventually they sold him into slavery, whence he was shipped to Egypt, sold to one of Pharaoh’s officials Potiphar and made a slave. He did well at that and Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his whole household, until Potiphar’s wife, who fancied young Joseph, wrongly accused him of making improper advances, so Joseph was thrown into jail.

He did well there too, so much so that the jailer put him in charge of the prison. And it’s here in prison that we pick up the story, because it’s here, languishing in an Egyptian jail that Joseph has one of those moments – a very long moment actually – where it appears that his opportunity of getting out of jail passes him by. Let’s have a listen to what happened –it comes from Genesis Chapter 40 in the Old Testament.

Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he waited on them; and they continued for some time in custody. One night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own meaning. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. But remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place. For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.”

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favourable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” And Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you! —and hang you on a pole; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his cup–bearing, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; but the chief baker he hanged, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Not only did the chief cupbearer forget him, it was actually another two years before he remembered Joseph and things started to happen. Two years is a long time even when you’re having fun. Two years in prison, is unimaginable. I can’t imagine spending one night in jail. But two more years in prison when you’re there because you’ve been wrongly accused, and because before that your brothers turned against you and sold you into slavery and shipped you to a foreign land … I mean, come on – put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. How do you feel?

Everything’s piling up against you. Your family’s turned against you. Your master has turned against you because his wife lied about you – she was the one with evil things in her heart, Joseph was the one who’d done the right thing – yet here he was in prison. And now … now you do this wretched cupbearer a favour, I mean God’s given you this amazing spiritual insight and gift of interpreting this dream – God’s here right? So let me ask you – would you be tempted to give up on God in those two years?

A Step of Faith

I have a confession to make, I hate heights. I remember once standing on top of a 30-metre tower when I was training to become an officer in the Australian Army – it was a water jump on an obstacle course. The idea was simple, climb the tower and jump into the water.

Thirty metres doesn’t sound an awful lot does it? I can cover one meter in a single step. Easy. 30 metres, not that much. I was a little nervous as I queued that day at the bottom of the tower, watching my mates climb up and jump. But as I headed up the tower, I became more and more fearful.

By the time I stood on top of the tower, looking down, I was completely petrified. This was so unnatural – I still remember looking down and my stomach was in a knot. All I wanted to do was run. I couldn't of course. Everybody else so far had taken the jump, apparently fearlessly. Pier group pressure was overwhelming … so I jumped.

The fall seemed to take forever. Of course, not a single person died that day or was injured that day. We all survived to tell the tale. Leaps of faith can be scary can’t they? And sometimes God comes along and gives us an opportunity that is just as scary. Perhaps you’ve felt a call in your heart to go and do something and the fear of failure has paralysed you.

Or maybe you’ve been hit over the head by failure so many times that you’ve started believing that failures is your default mode of operation. The world, people, circumstances have been telling you that you just won’t amount to anything. You’ll never succeed.

That’s the place that young Joseph, son of Isaac (or Israel as he became known) found himself in, rotting for over 2 years in a prison in Egypt after being sold into slavery by his brothers and being wrongly accused of attempted rape by the wife of his master, Potiphar.

The reason that we’re taking a look at Joseph’s journey through life is that perhaps more than any other biblical character, he faced catastrophe after catastrophe in his life, yet at each turn he grabbed hold of the opportunities that God gave him. And that’s what made all the difference.

So, he’s rotting in prison, he interprets (correctly) the dream of a fellow prisoner, Pharaoh’s cup bearer and soon the cupbearer is released. But he forgets about Joseph in jail, and does nothing until Pharaoh himself has a perplexing dream that troubles him. Finally – two years on – the cupbearer remembers Joseph and suggests to Pharaoh that perhaps this Joseph could help interpret his dream.

Let’s pick up the story – Genesis 41:8–16

In the morning his spirit was troubled; so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my faults today. Once Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. We dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each according to his dream. As he interpreted to us, so it turned out; I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was hurriedly brought out of the dungeon. When he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not I; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.

And so Pharaoh told Joseph his dream and Joseph interpreted it for him. The outcome of that interpretation, ultimately, led to Joseph being appointed as ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. Now, it’s so easy to read this as one of those “and he lived happily ever after” stories – you skim over it and think, well, that turned out really well.

But imagine how Joseph felt after his shower and shave, whisked from prison, and now standing before Pharaoh, a man who had the absolute power of life or death over him. One slip up, one mistake, a bad or unfavourable interpretation, and Joseph could well have been relieved of his head. Executions at the whim of Pharaoh were commonplace.

There would have been a mixture of excitement and trembling in his heart. Excitement at the thought that finally, this may be his God–given opportunity to get out of jail. Fear at how Pharaoh might react. And it’s that very mixture of anticipation and fear that so often accompanies the God–given opportunities that come our way. Because when the opportunity appears, most time’s it doesn’t come with a guarantee of success.

The fear of failure in our hearts can outweigh the excitement and anticipation that also accompanies new opportunities. And it’s in that place, that we have a decision to make. We can succumb to the fear, fear which immobilises us, fear which stops us from stepping into the opportunity … or … we can take that leap of faith, at which point we are completely at God’s mercy.

Like jumping off that platform – I had absolutely no control on the way down – which, by the way, felt like it was taking forever. The longest couple of seconds of my life. When God next places an opportunity before you – what will you do? Turn back in fear, or step out in faith? The reason I’m asking you that question, is that it’s at this point, that so many people miss out on God’s opportunities for their lives. And in my book, that’s an absolute tragedy.

God’s Gifts in Action

Life is a mixture of appointments and disappointments. God has this funny way of setting up appointments for us, appointments that are part of his plan. The word anointing in the Bible means literally an appointment from God. God appoints you to do a certain thing, he anoints you to do that thing.

Other times, we see an opportunity to get ahead or to do something that apparently, on the surface, seems pretty good – but a little way into it, we come to realise that this appointment is, well, a disappointment. It wasn’t from God after all.

Have you ever felt that sense of regret after you’ve taken an opportunity and it hasn’t worked out and you’ve realised that it isn’t from God? Not that every God–given opportunity turns out to be successful from our perspective. Sometimes God puts opportunities in front of us to learn through our mistakes.

But some opportunities are God–given, and others are not. That’s just the way it is. And anybody who’s set their hearts to follow Jesus with their life, has been in that place of wondering – is this from God or not? Should I step into it or not?

Should I marry this person … or not? Should I take this job promotion … or not? Should I move to this suburb or town or village … or not? Should I …

Quite a few years ago now, I was involved in an IT consulting firm that we started way back in the late 1980’s. Graham, Mark and I were the partners who owned the business and it had grown internationally, and was a pretty successful and profitable outfit. To the points where a publically listed company sought us out and purchased the business from us, on the condition that we stayed on for at least 3 years to manage the transition.

At the end of the 3 years, Graham – the CEO, decided it was time for him to retire. I was the heir apparent. Everybody expected me to step up and take the reigns and drive the business forward. But … I had a deep unease about it. I thought long and prayed hard and finally God showed me why I was uneasy. There are many things that I enjoy doing, but managing people, managing detail – they’re not amongst what I like doing. I can lead, but I’m not a manager – there’s a difference.

I came to the conclusion that my gifts and talents weren’t a good fit to the opportunity to step up into the CEO’s role and so, much to many people’s surprise, I declined the appointment. Looking back on that decision, it’s one of the best I’ve ever made. And it’s this match between what we’re naturally good at, our natural gifts and talents, and the nature of the opportunity that is one of the best ways to determine whether an opportunity is from God or not.

When we last left young Joseph, son of Jacob in the Old Testament, he’d just been handed an opportunity by Pharaoh, to become the overseer of the whole of Egypt and in particular the overseer of the God–given plan to store away surplus food during the years of plenty, so that Egypt would be ready for the years of famine that lay ahead. Let’s take a look – Genesis 41:44–57

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” And he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt.

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure.

Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” The second he named Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes.”

The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.” And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.

Now okay, Joseph was given the power to make it all happen. But you’d have to be a pretty good manager to bring this grand scheme together, wouldn’t you? Turns out that that was exactly what Joseph was good at. Back as a slave in Potiphar’s house, what happened? Potiphar saw how good a manager Joseph was so he put him in charge of his affairs. And in prison, the head jailer saw what an effective manager Joseph was, so he put him in charge of the prison.

That was Joseph’s gifting; his natural talent and ability. This opportunity that Pharaoh gave him, was a perfect fit with who God had made him. It’s a pattern that repeated itself through the hard times, as a slave and a prisoner, and now during the good times, as the ruler of Egypt.

God’s plans, God’s opportunities that He sets before us invariably have a strong fit with who God made us to be. That kind of makes sense when you think about it. And testing opportunities against our natural abilities is one of the best ways I’ve ever discovered to figuring out whether an opportunity is going to turn out to be an appointment or a disappointment.

The Bible tells us that we should test all things so that we can grab a hold of that which is good, and keep away from that which isn’t (1 Thess 5:20). Not everything that glitters is made of gold. There are plenty of imposters that come along, pretending to be good, pretending to be God–given appointments, when all along they are nothing but disappointments.

Even Satan, we’re told, disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). One of the reasons that we end up missing out on God’s opportunities is because we choose the wrong ones. The devil does not want you living out the life God planned for you. The devil does not want you impacting this world through your God–given gifts.

One of the great tactics of the enemy is to deceive. That’s why it is so important for us to learn how to discern those opportunities that are God–given, from those that are not. If God is truly God, if He really knows what He’s doing, then surely He’s going to make us to be a good fit with the things He wants us to do.

That’s exactly what the Bible says in Eph 2:10:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that he prepared beforehand for us to walk into.

You and I need to know the things we’re good at and the things we aren’t so good at. Invariably, the things we’re good at are the things we enjoy doing; they’re the things we get excited about and animated about.

That excitement and animation is a good pointer for what we’re good at. And what we’re good at, is a good pointer towards the things that God made us to do.