Genesis 45:8 (NIV) So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

We all know the story of Joseph, an upright young man who was sold into slavery by his brothers who were jealous of him. He wound up as a slave in the house of a man named Potiphar, who was the captain of Pharoah's guard. He was put in charge of Potiphar's entire household, but when Potiphar's wife falsely accused him of rape because he wouldn't have an affair with her, he wound up in jail. Two years later, through the providence of God, he was given an opportunity to interpret two of Pharoah's dreams and he became second in command to Pharoah when He successfully told Pharoah what the dreams meant. Up until then, Joseph's life had been one tragic incident after another, and it all began with the evil intent of his brothers who originally wanted to kill him but sold him into slavery instead.

Any normal thinking person would put all of the blame for what happened to Joseph on his sinful brothers. It was they who sold him into slavery to Midianite merchants who were passing by who then sold him to Potiphar. The facts were as clear as day. But not to Joseph. Joseph saw things differently. One of the things that stands out about Joseph is that you don't hear about him getting angry with God or questioning why he was suffering through these trials, since he honored God and had done nothing wrong. So because Joseph continued to serve and honor God no matter what, he was able to see past his circumstances and into the very will of God. Of course, while he was going through the trials, he had no idea what was happening or why it was happening. But he continued to trust God and God prospered him in Potiphar's house and even in the jail he was in, as the warden put him in charge over everything. After God promoted him to become Pharoah's second in command, Joseph was able to see the whole picture. When he finally had the opportunity to confront his brothers, the amazing words in the verse above were what came out of his mouth: "It was not you who sent me here, but God." Wait a minute...it was the wicked brothers who sent him there, wasn't it? No! It was God all along who caused all of that to happen. It was God who had orchestrated everything, and He did it because He had a higher plan in mind, which was to save Jacob and all of his descendants (including the wicked brothers and their families) from starvation because of a severe famine that was coming.

That's why we must never lose heart when we face trials and tribulations of many kinds. If we, like Joseph, continue to trust God through the troubles that come to us in the course of our lives, then we, too, will be able to experience God's awesome plans. We will wind up not only blessed like Joseph, but we will also be vessels of honor that the Lord can use to accomplish His will. We will then be able to see that in all of it, it was God all along who was working in us and through us to unfold His beautiful and perfect plans for His glory, for our good, and for the good of many people around us.

Pastor Joey Vazquez