God in the Midst of Injustice

Every time I look into the life of Joseph, I always wonder how this man dealt with all of the injustice that fell upon him since he was a young man. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Then once he was in Egypt and things were going well for him, he got lied about by his boss’ wife and thrown into prison.

Just imagine you are Joseph. You have dreams and promises from God that you know are for your life, but for some reason things seem to be going in the opposite direction, and you keep getting further and further away from what you believe God has for you. If I walked in Joseph’s shoes, I would have felt some sort of anger, frustration, rage, fear, hatred, you name it, towards everything that was going on, but not Joseph.

When Joseph was called into Pharaoh’s presence, we see that he had no bitterness towards God. When he was asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, he said, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (Genesis 41:16). This is Joseph’s heart after being unjustly sold into slavery and thrown into prison. We see a man who has not turned his back on the Lord, and not hardened his heart, despite injustice. God then gave him favour in the eyes of Pharaoh and he became second in command, and was given authority over all the land of Egypt.

It is not easy to remain hopeful through hardship, especially if it is unjust hardship. You may feel that no matter what you do, regardless of whether you are truly walking with the Lord and trying to please him, things are not going your way. In times like that we need to cling to God’s word and study the lives of the heroes of the faith and the hardship they endured. They did not look at their present circumstances, because they had a hope in the things to come.

In Hebrews 11, we read, ‘And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect’ (Hebrews 11:39-40). God is sovereign, and His plans are greater than ours, His goodness looks different from our definition of goodness, but He is worthy of our trust, and our complete surrender to His ways. I will leave you with this encouragement from Genesis 41:51-52, ‘Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.’