Text: Genesis 45:1-8

“Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” — Genesis 45:5

Though he came from a dysfunctional family of constant infighting, emotional manipulation, and conniving undercurrents, Joseph was destined to become a great leader. In Genesis 37, his story begins with a lofty dream at the age of seventeen—a dream his older brothers despised. They had already deeply resented Joseph because he was clearly their father’s favorite child, but after Joseph revealed to his brothers a dream in which they would bow down to him, it was endgame for the young visionary.

One day, while out in the fields, they saw Joseph coming and conspired against him. “Here comes this dreamer,” they said to one another. “Let us kill him and we will see what will become of his dreams.” But instead they seized him and sold him into slavery. Betrayed by his family, he was taken away by a caravan of slave traders who took him to Egypt where he served in the house of a powerful leader named Potiphar. Seemingly overnight, Joseph’s ambitious dream had turned into a horrible nightmare.

Though his life situation had taken a drastic turn for the worse, and he found himself a slave in a distant foreign land, Joseph learns that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39). No unfavorable shift in circumstances, geography, or social status could thwart God’s favorable purposes in Joseph’s life. The Bible says that the Lord was with Joseph, and he became successful and prosperous in everything he touched. The young Hebrew slave remained faithful to the Lord in every situation and maintained his integrity at all times.

When Potiphar’s wife made sexual advances toward him, Joseph resisted her shameless attempt at seduction. This angered her to the tune of falsely accusing him of violating her. Joseph goes from the penthouse to the prison house overnight. He would later describe this dungeon with a word that literally means “the pit,” which infers a lightless and hopeless place (Genesis 40:15). Joseph remained in prison for some time, but not without the presence of God, even in such a dark place.

Scripture says,

“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.” (Genesis 39:21-23 ESV)

From the Pit to the Palace

Some time later, through a divinely appointed sequence of events, Joseph was given the opportunity of a lifetime. Thirteen years after his brothers betrayed him, Joseph was brought before the head of Egypt and asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. After successfully interpreting the dream, Joseph was appointed as second in command over all of Egypt. His God-given insight was instrumental in saving multitudes of lives from starvation during a time of severe famine.

In the course of that famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt in search of food. They find themselves at the mercy of the one whose death they had plotted, but who was now a powerful ruler in Egypt. They were terrified, but fortunately for them, Joseph was not in the business of revenge. He forgave them. He interpreted their betrayal and his subsequent hardships as part of God’s sovereign plan to save many lives. Joseph could look back and see how every difficulty in his life had prepared him for an influential position of servant-leadership. He didn’t feel cheated or victimized, just part of God’s overarching redemption story.

It’s easy to get caught up in trying to control our circumstances in life. But when we remember that it’s not our story that we are living, but God’s story through us, we can wake up every morning with peace. We can submit ourselves to the will of God knowing that everything’s going to be all right. We can forgive those who’ve hurt us mindful that God is using our pain for His glory. We can walk into the future without worry and anxiety. We can face our hardships without getting overwhelmed because we are part of a much bigger story—one that God is in control of every minute of every day. Think about that beloved, as you seek to abide in Him this week.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for inviting us to be a part of your bigger story in the world today. Help us to keep the big picture in mind as we face various trials and setbacks. Help us to rightly interpret our hardships as part of your good and gracious plan to bring about redemptive purposes through our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“Pain is no evil unless it conquers us.” George Eliot Tweet this

Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:

1. What were some of your earliest childhood dreams? How have your dreams changed over the years?
2. What can Joseph’s story teach us about faithfulness and perseverance?
3. How has God shaped your character through seasons of hardship in your life?
4. Have painful experiences in your life ever given you a platform to share the gospel with others?
5. What are some areas you need to submit to God’s control? How can an eternal perspective change the way you face difficulty today?

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The post The Joseph Story: Your Pain is Shaping a Legacy appeared first on Jimmy Larche.

Recently, while driving through Atlanta, our family ‘ran into’ a frustrating inconvenience.

Literally.

It appears that someone intentionally threw a box of nails onto the dark highway to cause mischief in the late night—and it worked. Our car ran over the box with our right side tires going about 70 mph. I was driving in the middle lane with very heavy traffic all around us. There was a tractor-trailer on my right as the tires blew, a line of cars blazing by in the acceleration lane to the left of me, and bright headlights coming up fast on my rear bumper. It was a tense moment as I gradually navigated the car through traffic and to the side of the highway with only two tires left on the vehicle. Unfortunately, about a dozen other cars hit the same debris and had to pull off the highway with flat tires.

We needed roadside assistance to tow our car off the highway, had to check into a motel after midnight, were forced to rent a car the next morning, and had to wait two days for our vehicle to be repaired.

I know what to do when someone throws me lemons—make lemonade! But how do you handle a situation when someone throws you a box of nails on a perilous freeway? After we shook ourselves from the jitters of an exceedingly dangerous situation, we decided it would not just be an inconvenience for us, but an opportunity—an opportunity to be a blessing!

We intentionally sought for ways that we could be a blessing to the highway patrol officer who drove us to the motel, the tow truck driver, the folks at the motel, the agents at the car rental office, and the mechanics who worked on our car. What could’ve been accepted as nothing more than a disappointing and expensive setback was ultimately reframed in our perspective as a missional journey to share God’s love and kindness in a place we didn’t have on our GPS, and a people we didn’t plan on meeting. God graced us to be His witness and a blessing in that context. We also experienced a joy that would’ve been unknown if we had only counted this ordeal as a setback.

Throughout scripture we see God using “setbacks” as divine appointments for His people. Joseph is abandoned by his family and sold as a slave but he later becomes a blessing to Potiphar’s house. He is falsely accused and thrown into a prison where he also becomes… a blessing. He is eventually released and promoted to second in command over all of Egypt and reunites with his mischievous brothers as an authority over them. But instead of using his cloak of authority for vengeance, he reframes the misfortune in light of God’s redemptive purposes: “As for you,” he tells them, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20 ESV)

God used all of Joseph’s hardships to bless others—many others!

Paul also knew a thing or two about setbacks. He landed in Macedonia because of a setback by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6-10). The obedience of Paul and Silas gets them beaten, humiliated, and thrown into prison. But behind bars, they sing praises to their God. They didn’t allow their circumstances to cause them to doubt God’s will for their lives. It wasn’t an inconvenience; it was an opportunity to be a blessing. And through this chain of ‘unfortunate’ events the jailer comes to faith in Christ and his entire family gets “saved” and baptized.

This same Paul once declared: “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.” (Acts 20:22-23 ESV)

Is Paul being pessimistic? No. He just understands how God works. He has been at this missional journey long enough to consider that every hardship, every setback, and every inconvenience is just another opportunity to be God’s blessing in unexpected places and unimagined contexts. He knows that our witness for Christ carries the most weight when others see how we respond to the adversity of the moment.

So my friend, how are you dealing with that box of nails that has been thrown in your path? Are you seeing your circumstances as frustrating setbacks or divine opportunities? Oftentimes it’s the way we respond to inconveniences that gives the most credence to our faith and witness for Christ.

Oftentimes it’s the way we respond to adversity that gives the most credence to our witness for Christ.
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Think about that as you abide in Him this week.

For further study: James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-9, Philippians 4:6-7

Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:

1. How do you typically respond to adversity?
2. If you were beaten and thrown into prison for obeying God, like Paul and Silas were, do you think you’d be singing praise songs? Why were Paul and Silas able to respond this way?
3. How have you seen God work through setbacks in your life? In what ways has hardship given you an opportunity to be a witness or blessing for Jesus?
4. What can you do this week to see your setbacks less as frustrating inconveniences and more in the light of divine opportunities to bless others?
5. Who has God brought into your path to be a blessing to this week?

Subscribe to “Abiding In Him” and get the latest devotional in your Inbox once a week.

The post Is Your Setback an Inconvenience or a Divine Opportunity? appeared first on Jimmy Larche.