Joseph: Trusting God When You Don’t Know What He’s Doing
A colorful coat, and a colorful story. Joseph is a favorite Old Testament character of many. Is he yours? If you need a little recap of Joseph’s eventful life story, buckle up and here we go…
Joseph was the youngest of 12 brothers, and he was his father’s favorite. So his father, Jacob, made him a special coat, which sparked jealousy from his brothers. Then, to make matters worse, Joseph told his brothers about two dreams he had where they were (symbolically) bowing down to him. His brothers took matters into their own hands and sold Joseph to some Midianite merchants, who then sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials.
From there, Joseph’s life continued on with some pretty extreme ups and downs. The Bible clearly tells us that God was with Joseph, so he prospered and experienced great success even in the midst of his captivity. Joseph was eventually put in charge of Potiphar’s household, but then he was tricked and ended up wrongfully imprisoned. Even there, the Lord was with Joseph. Although he helped two fellow prisoners who promised to help get him out once they were free, they forgot about Joseph, giving Joseph yet another reason to be angry and fall into despair. But God stayed with Joseph, and Joseph continued to thrive. He was put in charge of all those held in the prison, and eventually, he was rightfully released.
Upon his release, God orchestrated events in Joseph’s life so that he became second-in-command over all of Egypt. Joseph helped prepare the country for a looming famine, which God warned him about in a dream he interpreted, and because of Joseph’s godly foresight, the entire country had enough food stored away to survive the famine. Not only that, but Egypt had saved so much food that other countries were able to come buy food from Joseph and the Egyptians—and, thus, be saved.
After some time had passed, Jacob, who had been told by his other sons that Joseph was dead, sent his sons to Egypt for food. They encountered Joseph, who recognized them right away, and an amazing story of forgiveness, reconciliation and family reunification unfolded. Jacob ended up moving his entire family from Canaan to Egypt, and Pharaoh let them settle in the best of the land.
What a story, right? Joseph’s story does go on a bit further, and you can read the entire thing from start to finish in Genesis 37-50. Perhaps your life has had some pretty significant ups and downs, just like Joseph’s, or maybe you relate to him in another way. Maybe you feel like you don’t relate to him at all? Surely there is something you can learn from Joseph about God or yourself.
What can we learn about God from Joseph’s story?
- God is always with you—in your highs and lows, your times of abundance and your times of struggle.
- He joins you in your suffering.
- Sometimes God allows difficulties in your life to teach, build and prepare you for the future. He refines His people through suffering.
- God uses divinely-ordained waiting periods to grow, mature, build and prepare His people for their future.
- God works in mysterious ways that we may not understand.
What can we learn about people/ourselves from Joseph’s story?
- Even when life is hard, we can find comfort, hope and blessing from God’s steady presence.
- No situation is ever too despairing or difficult for God to bring you out from.
- As believers, we are called to forgive others and reconcile relationships.
- People might take your dignity or freedom, but they cannot take your relationship with God.
- Sometimes we are called to faithfully wait on God’s timing.
- With mature faith, we can trust God even when we don’t understand what He is doing.
What else do you learn about God from Joseph? What do you learn about yourself? How can you apply that to your life today? Pick out the one lesson you’re learning from Joseph—you know, that one that’s resonating in your heart right now—and talk to God about it in prayer. Write it down somewhere where you’ll see it, and let that lesson move you forward in faith.