Those Famous Words

The Joseph quote most known to so many of us is the one found in the last chapter of Genesis.  After the death of Jacob, Joseph's brother fear that now retribution will fall on their head, but instead in a moment of reconciliation the wronged brother says, "Do not be afraid.  Am I in the place of God?  Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good..."  (Genesis 50:20)  Most likely this was not the song Joseph was singing that day when his brothers pulled him out of a pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to some Ishmaelite traders in gum, balm, and human flesh.  On that day it is more likely that he was screaming curses at them!

 

Actually, what was happening was the beginning of something the Lord told Joseph's great grandfather Abraham, "Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years..." (Genesis 15:13)  Of course, Joseph could not see ahead to the day of oppression any more than he could have seen forward on the day he was sold for twenty pieces of silver.  Joseph's changed heart did not happen the first night he spent with the Ishmaelite traders, but sometime along the way between that moment and the moment his brothers came to Egypt seeking relief from the famine.

 

What is ahead we cannot know.  We are often tempted into believing that through our prudent and careful planning we can control our future, but such thinking is an illusion.  God is the One who has the future in His hands.  We will surely see this more clearly as the years and decades go by and by.  Always remember what Joseph said to his brothers was hindsight.  What it takes to face the uncertain and often difficult future is not hindsight, or foresight, but faith.