Joseph seemed to be the favorite of Jacob’s sons because he and Benjamin were the only two children born from Rachel, the woman Jacob truly loved. At times we may get the impression that Joseph was a loose cannon in the family saying what could be interpreted as crazy things about having dreams with all the other brothers bowing down to him. Then life took a downturn for Joseph that by all indications would give him a terrible rest of his life. He was helpless and promptly felt hopeless at the time.
Joseph was the victim of jealousy from the other brothers. That’s bad. He was thrown in a well and their father was told that an animal killed him. That’s bad. He was sold to a traveling caravan going to Egypt. That’s bad. The wife of his employer tried to seduce him when he refused, she claimed that he tried to rape her. That threw him in prison. That’s bad. He had year after year of bad things happening to him. HOWEVER, our text quotes Joseph saying that bad was used by God for good. Hopefully we can come to similar conclusions when we have bumps in the road that want to discourage or distract us from our spiritual journey.
God has a vision. He is not restricted by time. That means that he can look all the way into the past so that he might see what he wants, look at the present, and look ahead into the future as he wants for what is coming up in our lives. God can span our entire lifeline.
God has an investment. He did not turn his creation on like a toy and watch it play on the floor. He has every intention to work with us and for us in our lives, knowing what we need and what we should have. His love seeks ways to improve and enhance how we live.
God has a blessing. As in the case of Joseph, it took years and years for a blessing to come true. After everything was in place and all the characters were filling their roles, God chose to bring tremendous blessing on Joseph. Not only was Joseph second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt, that elevation allowed Joseph to save the lives of thousands and thousands of people.
The next time you are thinking God has abandoned you or life is terrible, remember Joseph. It took a long time for his great blessing to occur. All that is happening in your life may be like chess pieces that need to be moved to the right square on the board so that everything is in place for you. I am not just talking about setbacks. I’m talking about tragedies and traumas and losses and grief. I am talking about what we as humans would think could destroy us. God is in charge. He knows what he’s doing. We must trust him through the bad times to better enjoy the good times.
Christian Writer 