"I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you." (Gen 45:4-5)
Joseph sees the hand of God in all of his life, the good and the bad. He doesn't attribute the events to some cosmic accident or chance. Everything that happens to us is planned and orchestrated by God. The difficulty for us, believers, comes when hard times come upon us. It gets even tougher if we are praying people - because then the chances are that we believe God is totally able to deliver us from our circumstances.
So, if he allows trouble in our lives, and delays in intervening on our behalf, what then shall we say?
For Job, when he was plagued by many troubles and his wife said to him 'Curse God and die!", he replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10)
And Jesus said in Matthew,"Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." (Matt 11:6). Joseph knew, before his life's end, why God had to bring him low to elevate him. For those of us, who have no answers, Jesus says don't get offended anyway. We need to hold fast to our understanding that God is light; In Him is no darkness. And that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prayer today: Lord Jesus, when things don't go my way, help me not to be offended by you. Or to lose heart. Grant me the grace to hold fast to you, trusting that you will work all things out for the good of us who love you. O God, please hold fast to me. May you never let my heart grow cold; never let me go. Amen.
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