When you go through difficulties (1)

To reach his destiny, Joseph went through betrayal, temptation, slander, and wrongful imprisonment. But he came out on top. Here is what Joseph recognized that you need to recognize too: (1) God knows what you’re going through, and He cares. There is a key phrase found five different times in the story of Joseph: “But the Lord was with Joseph.” Even when everything was going wrong, Joseph never doubted that God was with him. (2) You have been given freedom of choice. God gives you freedom to choose how you will react to your circumstances: faith or doubt, joy or despair, patience or impatience, etc. When you choose to ignore what’s right, God won’t force His will on you. Sometimes we bring problems on ourselves and then blame God. We say, “It must be God’s will,” as if God gets pleasure out of planning our mistakes and miseries! The truth of the matter is that God’s will isn’t always carried out. Yes, He has a plan for our lives, but He has also given us free will. And because He has also given others free will, their mistakes and decisions can hurt us as well. (3) God is in control of the final outcome. He can take every negative circumstance in your life today and turn it around for your good. In the end, Joseph could say, “You meant it for harm, but God meant it for good” (see Genesis 50:20). And while God was working to bring good out of his situation, Joseph had to keep trusting Him, even though at the time he did not understand what was happening – and you must do that too.