It’s a dangerous thing to judge the kindness of the Lord based on our circumstances.
TRANSCRIPT:
What do you think of when you hear these words from Scripture: “the Lord caused all that he did to prosper.”
Or this: “the lord was with him and he became a successful man.”
Or what about this: “The lord was with him, and extended kindness to him
All these statements appear in Genesis 39 and refer to Joseph. He was 17 years old when he was kidnapped by his brothers and sold into slavery. It’s in that context where the writer states, the LORD was with him.
As a slave in Egypt the writer states, the LORD caused all that he did to prosper.
After he was falsely accused of a sexual assault and thrown in prison we read , the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him.
Really? That certainly would not be our first reaction to the details in the story. It seems like Joseph is abandoned and forgotten by the LORD. How could any of this make sense to him or us?
Yet, God was at work. Preparing Joseph to become the second most powerful man in Egypt to save the Hebrew nation. It’s a dangerous thing to judge the kindness of the LORD based on our circumstances. Life in a fallen world can be very confusing.
Sometimes God feels a million miles away. That’s when we cling
to truth. We choose to believe God is who he says he is. Is it easy? Absolutely not. But the alternative is a lifetime of anger and bitterness which doesn’t make anything better.