You mean there was a plan?

I've mentioned before that I participate in a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) study in Orlando. We're two weeks into our study of Moses and my head is already spinning. That, in this case, is a very good thing.

Throughout Scripture (and life, if I pay attention) I find evidence of a plan (and therefore a Planner) that is hard to ignore. Possible to ignore, but hard.

One thought that our teaching leader shared last night has been bouncing around all night in my brain. It's about the 400-year long enslavement of Israel in Egypt -- in the years after memories of Joseph and his God had faded from the memories of those in power. God knew that He was preparing a nation (growing it in number from 70 men to millions) to inhabit the land He'd promised to Abraham. He knew that they'd have a long, difficult journey to get them to that place (physically and in all other ways) and they needed to be prepared.

What better to prepare for a long walk in the dessert than years of hard labor (making bricks without straw counts as hard labor) in the great outdoors? This difficult circumstance born out of injustice was used by God to fulfill his promises.

This makes me ask all sorts of questions. Like...what are the things in my own life that I see as irritants, unjust circumstances, sidetracks, or nuisances but which, in reality are exactly the thing I need for whatever is coming next? If I really do believe that God is God -- sovereign, with a plan that is far beyond my imagining, true to His Word and to His character -- then I must be willing for any of the things that come my way to be absolutely necessary for His glory and good.

See, I told you my head is spinning.