The tale of the appointed

God has a habit of setting people apart for his assignments. Throughout the bible, we learn of how God prepared people (unbeknown to them) for big assignments. 

Take Joseph for instance. Right in his young age, ambitious and having dreams to pursue, his life was suddenly disrupted. Unfortunate certain events happened in his life that could easily have been attributed to bad luck. He was cut out from his family at a young age and sold as a slave to the Egyptians. Later on, he languished in prison for being falsely accused of attempted rape. It later turned out that throughout, the hand of the Lord was involved as God was preparing him for a bigger assignment as the Egyptian Prime Minister. 

God has a habit of separating people he has chosen for a particular assignment from the crowd. He often disrupts their lives. Look at Joseph, he did not enjoy a normal life just like every average person. That is the problem – he was not ordained to lead an average life. Sometimes we make a mistake of comparing our lives with others when God is busy at work leading us towards the pre-set appointment. Naturally, we all want to see ourselves as “belonging” and therefore are inclined to want to conform with the rest. Sometimes we even try hard to force ourselves into groups or set-ups that God wants to remove us from. Sometimes what we view as being excluded or set aside is in reality, God’s way of setting us apart.

People appointed by God for particular assignments are kind of outliers. They don’t always go with the flow. Often they have to contend with inexplicable interruptions and setbacks. Though those interruptions and set-backs may be attributable to other human beings, still God uses those experiences to further propel these outliers to the ordained appointment. This is aptly articulated by Joseph later on when he reunited with his brothers who had sold him as a slave –

“As far as you’re concerned, you were planning evil against me, but God intended it for good, planning to bring about the present result so that many people would be preserved alive” Genesis 20:50

At times while we are pre-occupied with blaming people for our woes, they happen to be used by God as instruments to propel us to the set assignment.

The thing with some assignments is that they often tend to attract fierce opposition, especially if the assignment is huge. Some things come with the territory. Often the path to the set assignment is wrought with dense thickets and thorns. Often it is a lonely journey that is less traveled. At times travelers are left bewildered and in a state of despair. Numerous times they find themselves in a valley of dry bones where there is no prospect of life. They know too well the pain of being lonely, misunderstood, undermined, rejected, betrayed, gossiped about, shamed, and to be in desperate want.  

God allows those He has appointed to go through this difficult path to refine them and to prepare them for the task at hand. It is God’s modus operandi to extract from us that which the enemy can use to leverage against us. It is in the valley of dry bones where we are prepared, and where our character is moulded. It is also in this valley where new things are born and we are emboldened to be ready to undertake the pre-ordained assignment.

God trusts His Grace to be able to sustain us, not only through the lonely path but also in carrying out the assignment itself. Often we look at the assignment and get intimidated. All along God had been preparing us for it. At times we feel less qualified when we look at others and we think they are more capable than us and God says ” if I wanted them for the assignment, I would have appointed them. I know what I am doing”. 

May the knowledge that God knows what He is doing embolden us and charge us forward towards the assignment before us. May we depend more on His Grace than on our abilities.