As I embarked on my adventure to make beef steak for the first time, I was contemplating the ingredients I had on hand. There was a suggestion of rosemary or thyme for flavouring and I had thyme so I decided to add that. But I was doubtful of this flavour so I just tasted a teensy bit of the thyme- yuck! It was so bitter!! But I went ahead to add it anyway just to see the outcome. Lo and behold, it added a dimension of flavour to the steak that was unique and really yummy!!
Isn’t it the same with our bitter experiences? On their own, they taste so bitter, but when we add it as part of seasoning with all the other experiences in our life, it works so well to bring out the flavour of the rest of the experiences!
That’s what God intends too from our lives. He never intends any bitter experience to be without purpose to make the final flavour better. These experiences make us better people and shape our character. We just need to look at the whole picture, sometimes years later.
When we look at the life of Joseph, we see one of the best examples of this. His own brothers were jealous of him and sold him to Egyptians as a slave. While in Egypt, Joseph was imprisoned unfairly for being righteous instead of giving in to temptation by his master Potiphar’s wife. Then he had to wait 2 years further before a fellow prisoner cupbearer could remember him at the right time for interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams and impress him so much so that Pharoah elevated him to the status of a ruler, a status that Joseph could not have imagined in his wildest dreams. As a result, he was able to save his brothers and the land of Egypt during the time of severe famine. Joseph himself summarised in the best possible way when he spoke to his brothers:
“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive”
Apostle Paul said: “And we know that all things work TOGETHER for GOOD to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 KJV
So next time when we get a bitter taste of life, let’s not dwell on that alone but remember to have insight of the flavours all adding TOGETHER as the wonderful one God has ordained for us. The ultimate product is always going to be delicious!!
Author : Anugraha Samuel Shinde
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