God will work your hardships into his good plans

Pastor Mark Jeske

Joseph must have felt as though his life was spinning out of control. One day he was a beloved son of a wealthy Bedouin, and the next day he was bound and trudging in a slave caravan to Egypt. For all he knew he would never see his family again. He must have felt abandoned, not just by his brothers but by God too.

God let his situation deteriorate even further, and when his man was at the very bottom, imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, God lifted him up. Now a vice-pharaoh, Joseph was perceptive enough to look back at his life and see that God had never left him at all, that God’s good plans were unfolding even when Joseph couldn’t see anything good happening for him. He realized that his hardships became a platform for God to do something extraordinary. He told his stunned brothers: “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:8).

Your God loves you dearly, and he will make everything in your life come together for your good sooner or later, one way or another. As you grow older, may you find Joseph’s serenity and confidence in your loving Father. May you rejoice at what you see and trust what you can’t.

In Christ not a one of your hardships is wasted.

Devotion used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org