But God

Joseph, disliked by his brothers for telling them his dreams, is thrown into a pit before being sold into slavery. He rises to become the head of Potiphar’s household only to be falsely accused of raping Potiphar’s wife and jailed. But he does not give up. He is a model prisoner, winning ‘inmate of the month’ and is promoted to ‘convict-in-charge.’ But after interpreting the dream of Pharoah’s butler – that he would be restored to his old job – the butler reneges on his promise to put in a good word for him. And, as a result, Joseph languishes in jail for another two years. He’s probably thinking “God, is this how you reward those who are good and work hard?”

Fast forward two thousand years, Paul, likewise abandoned in jail, exhorts us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ (Philippians 4:4). Always? Really? Now, if I’m honest, that’s hard. It’s one thing to rejoice when life is good but when the going is tough? What if you’re grieving the loss of a loved one? Or have just had a terminal diagnosis? What if you have to decide between food and heating? Or maybe you’re just feeling under the spiritual weather. ‘What ifs’ about our circumstances can make us ‘prisoners’ just like Joseph and Paul.

But wait. Let’s finish Joseph’s story. Pharoah is troubled by dreams and the butler finally remembers Joseph. Joseph is summoned and interprets Pharoah’s dreams as a forecast of seven years of famine. He is promoted to Prime Minister and immediately sets about directing enough grain be stored to ride out the famine and save not just Egypt but Jacob’s family. And so, years later, Joseph is able to tell his brothers: “You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20 NIV).

The key words here are ‘but God.’ Joseph (and, later, Paul) viewed suffering through the lens of divine providence. Joseph was faithful, keeping God in the middle of his circumstances. Making God sovereign allows us to fight the onslaught of anxiety, worry and stress with the words ‘but God.’ The cancer is back…but God. They’re making redundancies at work…. but God is still sovereign. I failed as a husband and father…. but God is showing me how to be a man. I am anxious, troubled about the future … but God is showing me how to take one day at a time and to trust Him.

We can choose to wear the hurt or the hope. We can cave into the noise and chaos of our misfortune. Or we can lean into God’s perfect plan, trusting to His providence and His promise that ‘all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans’ (Romans 8:28, TLB).

The choice is ours.