In the Bible, Joseph had some more difficult times than most. He was his father's favourite son and his brother's resented him for it and so they sold him to slave traders, took his clothes, covered them in animal blood and told his father he was dead. He was then taken to Egypt and, after becoming an important servant to Potiphar and falsely accused of sleeping with his wife, thrown into jail. He helped a servant of the Pharaoh by interpreting his dream and telling him he would be set free and reinstated as butler. The butler promised to tell the King about Joseph but it took him two years to remember to do this.
It must have seemed to Joseph at times that God had forsaken him and that he had no great plan for his life but let's look a bit further back in the Bible.
Joseph's great-grandfather was Abraham, and in Genesis 17, God makes a promise to Abraham; he says, "I am making my agreement with you: I will make you father of many nations. I am changing your name from Abram to Abraham because I am making you a father of many nations. I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you. And I will make an agreement between me and you and all your descendants from now on: I will be your God and the God of all your descendants." - Genesis 17:4-7 (NCV)
So God had promised to make Abraham's descendants many and look after them. So think about this; if Joseph had not been sold by his brothers and thrown into jail and had not met the butler then Pharaoh's dream about the famine would not have been interpreted, food would not have been put aside, Joseph's family would not have got food from Egypt and they would have died and God's promise to Abraham would have failed there and then.
God has a huge plan for our lives and for everyone's lives, sometimes we can't see the reasons for what is happening to us because the reason is so huge we could never work it out. God had a plan for Abraham's family and that had to involve Joseph going through some very, very hard times. God also has a plan for your life and for the lives of those around you and sometimes we have to go though hard situations because God wants to do something for them through you.
Four years ago I went though a very difficult time, I became depressed and stopped going to school and had anxiety problems. This was a horrible time of my life and still affects me today. However, because of this I moved to Shirebrook School where I met James, Kara and Emily. I invited James and Kara to Embryo and Sanctum and they became Christians. Emily and Emily and Kara's mum also became Christians. If I had not been through all the rubbish I had to go through, I would never have moved to Shirebrook and James, Kara, Emily and Jenny would not have got saved.
Remember: "...I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." - Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV)
God has a plan for everything he does so don't forget God's love during the dark times. Worship him all the more and pray that his plan for you will come true. Remember that God can see the big picture, he sees how it all fits together. Trust Him, He knows what He's doing!
Ben Ramsdale
(Quotations found at www.studylight.org)
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