You Sold Me But God Sent Me

If you please, one more blog about Joseph and his bouts with adversity and eventual triumph. Surely, Joseph as an Old Testament type of Christ knew the feeling of a world against him. He knew what it was like to have nothing go his way. The more Joseph tried, circumstances worsened. The more someone liked him, the worse it became. Jacob, his father loved him more than any of his children, and so his brethren sold him into slavery. Potiphar took a liking to Joseph and so did Potiphar's wife, and he was thrust innocently into prison. And while in prison, the warden began to favor the young Hebrew slave; surely Joseph questioned within what tragedy was next. However, Joseph prevailed over his adversity, and in so doing he left us a principle on how to overcome adversity—the firm conviction that God sovereignly uses evil to work good.

Joseph’s life is the proverbial, “one step forward and two steps backward.” But through it all he maintained his faith in God. His synopsis of all that had happened to him is stated in Genesis 45:5, “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” In short, Joseph said, “You sold me; God sent me.”

How does adversity work? How can it cripple your resolve? By making you feel this is more than you can bear. Almost every crisis has the delusion of being the worse problem ever confronted. Have you noticed when you undergo adversity that at the time it seems to be more than you can bear? Once the trial ends and you look back, you think it wasn't as bad as you once thought. But when adversity comes again it becomes the worst difficulty you ever experienced.  A little girl was struggling to uproot a large weed.  When she finally succeeded, her father patted her on the head and said, "My, that was hard, wasn't it?"  "Yes," she replied, "and the trouble was, the whole world was hanging onto the other end!"  Almost always the present problem feels like it’s you against the world. Present distress seems to be the worst pain possible. "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful" (Hebrews 12:11).   Continue at Michael Durham