A false witness will not go
unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. Proverbs 19:5
And then many will fall away
and betray one another and hate one another. Matthew 24:10
A lot of Christians suffer
from the debilitating effects of betrayal. This causes us to live in a place of defeat where God is
unable to move as fully in our lives as He wants to do.
Some of you reading this
today have walked a very hard path in your life. Maybe like me you have times
when you say to God, "What is this all about, God? I thought my life would
be blessed. I have followed your commandments, lived righteously and helped
others. Others around me who don't live this way seem to have had a much easier
path to walk. I don't get it?"
When I was a child I would
get up each day with expectation of something new and wonderful to do. I had a
close friend that lived across the street from us and we happily spent our
summers doing things together. We would ride our bikes, play with our paper
dolls, explore our neighborhood and enjoy life in general. I was popular in
high school and had many friends. Life seemed like a wonderful journey full of
expectations of the future and all it held for me. In reality, I could not have
imagined back then that I would have had to walk through some of the betrayal
and heartbreak I have experienced.
When we read the Old
Testament stories of people like Joseph, for instance, we sometimes forget that
these people were once children also. They played happily not knowing or
understand yet the calling God had on their lives.
Joseph endured things in his
life that would have stopped many of us right in our tracks. The betrayal of
Joseph by his brothers was on the beginning of his journey into many, many
years of suffering.
Is there any deeper pain, for
any of us, and then being betrayed by someone whom we thought loved us? These
are people whom we shared our lives with, and became vulnerable with. Some of
us have known this pain, the sting of disloyalty from someone we trusted with
our hearts, souls and minds.
Joseph endured a lifetime of
betrayal. After several years in Egypt and faithful service to Potiphar, Joseph
was again betrayed. Because he spurned the affections of Potiphar's wife she
slandered him to her husband. This led to another unfair act; Joseph was thrown
into prison for 13 years. In
proportion to the 13 years in prison, God must have given Joseph a strong
anointing to keep on keeping on. I believe that after being betrayed by family,
sold into slavery, doing the "right" things and then being betrayed
again, a lot of us would have given up on God.
The enemy has a plan with
betrayal. He wants us to get to the point where we really don't like people,
where we only look out for ourselves. He wants to get us to the point where we
are bitter and trust no one but ourselves. Amazingly, Joseph used the trials in
his life to increase his faith and trust in God.
Betrayal will do that; it
will either draw us nearer to God, or keep us far away from Him in bitterness
and anger.
When Joseph was released from
prison, in Genesis 41-42, he was in a position to provide for those who had
wounded him. There was a famine in the land and people were desperate to eat.
Yesterday while studying
this, I begin to hear the voice of the Lord. He spoke that a lot of us are
going to be in the same position as Joseph was, in these last days. Those who
have betrayed us, and mocked our relationship with Christ, those who broke our
hearts, will be "hungry" and they will seek us out. We are going to have to deal with the
same decision that Joseph had to make with his heartless brothers. Will we help
them or turn our backs on them?
The Word tells us that when
Joseph's brothers stood before him, looking for grain, the memories of their
brutal betrayal of him came flooding back to him. We read the following in
Genesis 42:7 Joseph saw his
Brethren, and he knew them and
Made himself strange to them, and
Spoke roughly to them.
I think that God had to do a work with Joseph, God had spoken
to Joseph that there would be a famine of 7 years, and he know that if he
didn't help them they would die. At this point, I am sure some of us might have
been tempted to let them do just that very thing.
Because, Joseph was a man of God, his heart yearned for
reconciliation with his brothers. Evidentially, that motivates him to forgive
them, help them and be reconciled to them.
Beloved, God has been in control of our lives and had a
purpose for them and the gates of hell cannot prevail against that purpose.
Everything God has allowed in our lives was for this divine purpose and this
purpose in to be a source of ministry to others. God picks certain people to
walk the walk He has walked. He was rejected, betrayed by Judas, spit upon, and
told he was demon possessed.
I do know this, also, that even though we can't always
discern it, people who betray others that were good to them, have a terribly
guilty conscience to deal with. Remember what Judas said, when he got the
shekels from betraying Christ? He said, "You have put to death an innocent
man", and then he killed himself.
You may be living each day without friendship because either
someone in a position of authority over you as a child, or someone you trusted
as an adult has betrayed you so often. Today is the day to walk free from the
effects of betrayal. Allow God to stand by you as you open the door to trusting
again. The end result of this is that God gets the glory, and you move forward
into greater provision from the Lord!
Father, we don't always understand our lives and the pain
associated with them. We do know that you have chosen some to be broken by
harder circumstances then others. We also know that Your blessings come in
proportion to our suffering. We claim those blessings today, and we ask for the
willingingness to open the door to trusting others in our paths. In Your Name,
the Name above all names we pray. Amen and Amen