To reach his destiny, Joseph went through betrayal, temptation, slander, and wrongful imprisonment. But he came out on top. Here’s what Joseph recognised that we need to recognise too: 1) God knows what you’re going through, and He cares. There’s a key phrase that appears five different times in the story of Joseph: ‘But the Lord was with Joseph.’ Even when everything was going wrong, Joseph never doubted that God was with him. 2) You have been given freedom of choice. God gives you freedom to choose how you’ll react to your circumstances: faith or doubt, joy or despair, patience or impatience, etc. When you choose to ignore what’s right, God won’t force His will on you. Sometimes we bring problems on ourselves and then blame God. We say, ‘It must be God’s will,’ as if God gets pleasure out of planning our mistakes! But the truth is that God’s will isn’t always carried out. He has a plan for our lives, but He’s also given us free will. And because He’s also given other people free will, their mistakes and decisions can hurt us as well. 3) God is in control of the final outcome. He can take every negative circumstance in your life today and turn it around for good. In the end, Joseph could say, ‘You meant it for harm, but God meant it for good’ (see Genesis 50:20). While God was working to bring good out of his situation, Joseph had to keep trusting Him, even though at the time he didn’t understand what was happening. Let’s also try to do that.
