Patient Faith

When Joseph was about 17 years old his brothers took him and threw him into a pit and conspired to kill him. At the last minute some slave traders came by and they sold him into slavery. Eventually he ended up in a land far away from his home and was sold to an Egyptian.

I’m sure Joseph was very emotionally troubled by all this and had a lot of questions. What had he done to deserve such treatment? What did the future hold in store and where was God in all this?

Twenty-two years later when Joseph was about 39 years old his brothers came to Egypt looking for food because there was none where they lived. Eventually Joseph revealed who he was to them. They were terrified at his power and how he might punish them. But that’s not what happened. Instead he told them…

“ Do not be distressed and angry with yourselves, because it was to save your lives that God sent me ahead of you…. it was not you that sent me here but God”.

Sometimes bad things happen to us and we have a lot of questions about how God our Father could allow such things to occur. Some even lose their faith in God. The faithful (like Joseph), while not understanding the reason for what’s occurring, never lose their faith and confidence in God.

Joseph’s attitude was that the troubles he was going through were for some greater purpose and he had that confirmed to him 22 years after he was sold as a slave.

The next time we are having some troubles remember Joseph and wait for something great to happen. God uses his people to achieve great things and he rewards them.