Tonight I heard an interesting point of view while I was listening to the radio after Monday night basketball. It had to do with the problems and hardships we go through in life.
The particular comment had to do with the life of Joseph, who was left in a pit by his brothers and later sold into slavery. His is a fascinating tale in the book of Genesis. Give it a read sometime. Joseph’s older brother, Ruben, was planning on coming back to get Joseph and bring him back home. He simply wanted to scare Joseph. However, Joseph ended up getting sold and eventually ended up in Egypt.
The commentator mentioned that if Ruben had been successful and brought Joseph back home, he would never have experienced the plan God had for his life. He would never have become second in command of all of Egypt, and he would not have been able to help out his family when famine struck in the land of Israel.
I thought this was an interesting take on Joseph’s life. Joseph went through a lot of rough stuff. Sold by his brothers. Taken to a strange land. Worked for a man whose wife falsely accused him of rape. Ended up in jail. Not the kinds of things any of us would probably consider as good or blessings. However, God used these situations to shape Joseph into the person He wanted him to be.
We’ve been going through a hard time with Danielle’s jaw. It doesn’t seem to want to cooperate, but we are trusting for God to completely heal it. I took this little minute or so of what I heard in the conversation as a real encouragement in our situation. I hope it is in whatever you’re going through also.