Chess not Checkers

I am a football fan, and unfortunately in the last few decades there has been a team that has dominated football. That would be the evil empire called the New England Patriots. They have been led by one of the best coaches of all time in  Bill Belicheck, who also happens to be a Sith lord. What amazed me about this team is that during the 16 game season the coaches would not just scheme for their upcoming opponent, they would craft their game plan to show the opponent they were facing in 3 weeks what they wanted them to see. In other words they would not just be looking at who they were playing now but who they were playing later in the season. They would plan ahead. They are playing chess 4 moves ahead while everyone else was playing checkers. This resulted in 6 Super Bowl championships and 9 trips to the Super Bowl in the last 18 years, ridiculous!

I was reading in Psalms 105 this morning and it says this:

"He called down a famine upon the earth; he cut off all the food supply.

 He sent a man ahead of them —Joseph was sold as a servant.

 The shackles hurt his feet; his neck was placed in an iron collar,

 until the time when his prediction came true. The LORD’s word proved him right."

 Psalms 105:16-19 (NET Bible)

Think about what this verse is saying here, God was setting in motion a bigger plan. Joseph was sold into Egypt in slavery, after he was given dreams from God about his future. What's worse is that while in Egypt he was thrown into prison, for a crime he never committed. If you looked at each situation on its own it would look like things were just getting worse and worse. Or to use the football analogy they were taking  a lot of losses. But you see God was not playing a short term game, he was playing the long game. He was playing chess. The troubles that Joseph went through were setting him up to be positioned in the place of authority in Egypt. As we look further this wasn't just so that Joseph could be made powerful and have success and fulfill his dreams, this was a piece in the bigger part of God's plan. See Joseph was sent ahead to preserve the line of Israel, it was to save his family from destruction in the famine.

God was playing the long game and the short term losses set up the long term wins for the family of Israel. What things are you going through that look like losses? What painful things are you dealing with right now that look like slavery and shackles? I want to encourage you, the short-term is only setting you up for the long term victory!

In the book of  James says to count it all joy when we fall into trials because it produces endurance to carry out the things that God has planned for you. God sets us up to go through challenging things to prepare us for the position He has for us. Your dreams were given to you to give you the picture of God's love for you, the future and the hope that He has prepared for you. He just doesn't show us the road that it is going to take to get there. However, that journey will not just affect us, but those around us and also the generations coming after us

We all have a part to play in the masterpiece of His perfect plan. I heard it said like this our life is like a tapestry and while we are here on the earth we only get to see the back side. While we are in the midst of the journey we know something is being created, and we can even see a blur of the final product. But it is only in eternity that we will be able to see the full beauty of what God was working in our lives.

Let's embrace where we are and know that He is working it out for His glory! All things work together for good for those that love God!