A Turtle On A Fencepost

My editorial thoughts today are centered around a little book I have in my library and our Sunday morning study of some of the great characters of the Bible.  I’m going to tie these two things together in such a way that I hope teaches a spiritual lesson worthy of your consideration.  I guess we could call the theme of it a lesson in Christian responsibility.

Before we get into the lesson proper, I’d like you to be aware of something to keep in mind.  And that is, sometimes that responsibility isn’t something we volunteer for, but comes upon us anyway.  It’s how we respond and handle those situations that’s important to our spiritual lives.

As I said, in our Sunday morning study we’ve been studying a series of lessons on some of the great characters on the Bible and I believe that a thumbnail look at some of them will help get the point of this lesson across.  We’ll look at these examples with the eye toward seeing how they handled their particular situation and use their example to help us use and handle our situations.

One of the things I’d like us to pick up on is how their situation affected their relationship to God.  How did they understand what had happened to them and then respond.  It’s this theme that relates to the little book I mentioned earlier.  The title of this book is “A Turtle On A Fencepost.”  The author of the book said, in relation to the title, that when he was a boy, living in the country, he would sometimes come upon a turtle sitting on top of a fencepost and he knew that it did not get there by itself.  Someone had to put it there.  Maybe our examples and ourselves could look at this as if we were “turtles” and sitting on a fencepost.

The first character we’ll look at is Joseph: beloved by his father and hated by his brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt.  We see him rising to a high position in Potiphar’s house and then being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison.  But, that turned into the opportunity for him to come to Pharaoh’s attention and that resulted in him rising to be second in command of all Egypt.

Because of all of this, he was instrumental in saving his family, thus saving and bringing into existence the nation of Israel.  My point of using Joseph here is to mention how he handled all that life had dealt him.  To see this, let’s look at what he said when his brothers came to him right after the death of their father, Jacob.  They were afraid of what Joseph would do to them now that Jacob was gone. 

We pick up this scene in Gen. 50, verses 15-18 where they figured that Joseph would “requite” them for “all the evil we did unto him.”  They went to Joseph, fell down before him and said, “Behold, we be thy servants.”  Meaning: we’re at your mercy, do with us as you please.

But, I want you to look at how he replied to them.  In verse 19 he says, “Fear not, for am I in the place of God?”  And then he says what’s really important to our lesson theme.  In verse 20 he says, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

After everything that had happened to him.  After all the bad things of his life.  Did he blame God for what happed to him, as many today do?  Or, did he take the credit for his success?  No.  He simply saw himself and everything that had happened to him as being the means used by God to accomplish His Will.

How about Moses?  Remember when God appeared to him in the “burning bush” and told him to return to Egypt where he was basically a fugitive and bring God’s people out.  Look at his response and then what God said to him.  In Ex. 3:11-12 Moses said, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the people out of Egypt?” Now look at how God answered him: “Certainly I will be with thee...”

Even the great king David had to be reminded by God of how he had gotten to the position to which he had attained.  In 2Sam. 7:8 God sent these words to David by His prophet Nathan:  “I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel.”  He went on in verse 9 to remind him that He had always been with him during bad times and had made his name great.

Let’s switch to the New Testament and take a quick look at Paul for our last example.  Recall some of the ways he described himself: “the least of the apostles” (1Cor. 15:9).   “...less than the least of all saints..” (Eph. 3:8).  On one occasion he even said of himself that he was “chief of sinners.”  (1Tim. 1:15).

Having looked at what Paul said of himself, look at all that he was able to accomplish, in spite of the many terrible things that happened to him (read 2Cor. 11:23-28).  How did he handle all these things?  Who did he give credit to for everything he suffered and everything he accomplished?  In Phil. 4:13 he says: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Point to consider here is: none of our examples were able to accomplish their tasks or had risen to their state of ability on their own.  They were like that turtle on the fencepost.  Someone had to put them there and then provided them with all the strength and ability necessary to accomplish His goals. 

We are all like our examples.  We are all turtles.  We sometimes find ourselves in difficult situations.  We’re sometimes faced with tasks that seem beyond our ability.  But, we may have been put there by God for a reason.  And that reason is to present His Will to the world and to bring glory and honor to Him.  As long as we are doing that, He will “Certainly be with us.”

I’d like to close these thoughts today by reciting to you the words of an anonymous Confederate soldier, penned during the Civil War.  He wrote: 

   “I asked God for strength that I might achieve, and I was made weak that I might humbly learn to obey.  And I asked for help that I might do greater things, and I was given infirmity that I might do ... greater things.  And I asked for riches that I might be happy, and I was given poverty that I might be wise.  I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, and I was given a beautiful life that I might enjoy all things.  I received nothing that I asked for, but I got everything that I had ever hoped for.  Despite myself, all my prayers were answered.  I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey