Favor

“And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked” (Exodus 12:36).

“And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the the chief of the eunuchs...” (Daniel 1:9).

“But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh” (Acts 7:9-10).

Behind the scenes footage of movies or television shows are always interesting to see. There is way more that goes into a production than one might think. Even with emergence of CGI, to get things to look and sound right there have to be hundreds of people working on the projects for more hours than one might think. But most of the time all we see are the polished actors nailing their character, not the thousands of hours of man power it took to bring it about.

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to peel back the layer of “the seen” and reveal the “unseen.” From the verses above and the many more like it in the Scripture, it seems there is way more going on behind the scenes of our life -- especially in the spiritual realm -- than we can truly comprehend. In these stories it appeared God was working behind the scenes to help them “find favor” or “grow in wisdom.”

It doesn’t really tell how. And it doesn’t really reveal a timeline. That especially seems evident in Acts 7:9-10. If you asked Joseph during the majority of his life if he felt that God “rescued him from his troubles” I’m not so sure he would describe it in that way. Yet, because of the wisdom God developed within Joseph, he was able rescue the people around him from the famine and bring Joseph back into his family.

Daniel was taken from his homeland, given a new identity, and made a royal servant. Yet, “God gave Daniel favor and compassion” in the sight of the leaders that he served. The Egyptians would not have liked the Israelites because they saw them as unclean shepherds, yet behind the scenes God was working to make sure that his people had enough to survive when he led them out of the presence of Pharaoh so he “gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.”

Was that ever announced out loud to the people? Did Daniel know God was working behind the scenes? Was Joseph aware, at least in his early life, that God was developing some elaborate plan for him? I tend to think that none of them knew. Just like we don’t know how God is working behind the scenes in our lives. That is where faith comes in. “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). We take action. We speak His words. We continue to move forward in faith. God works behind the scenes. We plant. We water. He increases.

Here might be the most difficult note of all. We may never really see what all He is doing through us. We may never see the full picture of His favor unless He gives us a glimpse from the other side. Joseph eventually saw some blessings, but never witnessed the kingdom of Israel in its fullness. Daniel found favor with the leaders but never knew freedom again. The people received the gifts from the Egyptians before they left for the Promised Land--but that first generation only saw wilderness.

God is working in your life right now. You just can’t see it. There are things you are questioning, that He is using. There are struggles that you wrestle with, that He is blessing far into the future. That is where sometimes the best we can do is simply “be still and know” that He is God and will be exalted in the end...and will bring us with Him (Psalm 46:10).

Ben