“God’s goal for our lives is Christlikeness more than our own comfort. He has no problem allowing us to go through some times of discomfort if it means we will become more Christlike.”- Os Hillman
In Chapter 6 (“Living Successfully Through Your Joseph Calling”) of The Joseph Calling, Os Hillman describes the precursor to the first stage of the Joseph calling. Often a dream or vision of what we believe God’s calling us to do precedes the crisis stage. However, many times our initial vision needs to undergo a death process to transform it into God’s vision.
Writing in Not Knowing Whither: The Steps of Abraham’s Faith (2015), Oswald Chambers explains this test:
“God’s method always seems to be vision first and then reality. So many mistake the vision for the reality, but in between the vision and the reality there is often a deep valley of humiliation. . . . How often has a faithful soul plunged into a like darkness; after the vision come the test and then the darkness.”
Although questioning God when bad things happen to us reflects a natural response to calamities, Os cautions the we must not remain there. We live in a war zone, where Satan seeks to steal, kill, and destroy our lives. Yet, Jesus assures us that He came to give us life abundantly (John 10:10).
But within the crisis stage, all Joseph’s experience what Os calls the black hole. The black hole:
- usually comes in the first phase of your crisis
- disrupts all of life, leaving you unable to do anything about it
- kicks life out from under you
- focuses you on God’s seeming sabotage of your ability to complete the task during this season of life
In conclusion, Os states, this stage comprises the best and worst of times. This stage is worst for obvious reasons. Yet, it’s also the best because you see God’s activity show up in the most unusual ways.
Today’s question: What most helps you reach God’s goal of Christlikeness? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “When God gives you a vision and darkness follows”
