Read Genesis 45
Key Verse: 5 “And now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
Observation: It is easy to look at Joseph’s life and think that Joseph had a great attitude because he knew what God was doing but the truth is, he didn’t know. When he got sold to slavery, when he got accused of rape, when he got left in prison, he had no idea what God was doing. The scriptures never tell us he got mad at God (as in the story of Job). In the midst of the bad, Joseph just trusted that God was doing what He needed to do. Now on the other side of all of this, it all makes sense but at the time, I am sure it made no sense but yet he kept trusting God. Now towards the end of the story, he is able to tell his brothers not to be angry for all the evil they did to him because God had a greater purpose in store in that he was simply sending Joseph ahead of them so that he might save many lives.
Application: The application of this is easy to state but hard to live out. We must trust God with the future and just keep plodding through the present. When we look into the future it can fill us with fear and dread because we see the future as if looking through a fog. Do you realize that God is already living in the future? In fact, he is perfectly living in the past, present, and future all at once and therefore we can trust that God has perfect eyesight when it comes to our future and He is able to be trusted as we move from the present into that unknown future. As Jesus said, don’t worry about the future because today has enough troubles of its own (Matthew 6:34). Our objective is not to figure out the future but just stay close to the one who already sees the future and then put our trust in Him, that He knows what He is doing.
Prayer: God, I am simply on the journey of life. I try to make sense of all that has happened to me in the past as I attempt to plan out and work out future events as if I have some control over them…but I don’t. So, I ask that You will help me leave the future to You as I simply work out the worries of today because I know I can trust You with what will come. Grow in me the trust in You that Joseph had.
