Our Bible Study group recently walked through a RightNow Media session on Genesis led by Charlie

Dates. In the last lesson, Charlie talks about Joseph and the changes he faced in his life. The entire story

is from Genesis 37-50.

Joseph had many twists and turns in his life:

• In Genesis 37, Joseph goes from being the favorite son of his father to a slave after being sold by his brothers and taken away from his home to Egypt.
• In Genesis 39, Joseph goes from running his master’s house to prison after falsely being accused of adultery.
• In Genesis 40, Joseph helps a former servant of Pharaoh’s in prison, but is forgotten.
• In Genesis 41, Joseph goes from prison to second-in-command of Egypt.
• In Genesis 42-45, Joseph reunites with his brothers and provides for them during a famine.
• In Genesis 46, Joseph is reunited with his father, and the whole family settles in Egypt.

Joseph had a life of prosperity and favor with his father, his master, and with Pharaoh. To add to those

good things, Genesis 39:6 even tells us that Joseph was “well-built and handsome.”

Although we know that for Joseph everything eventually turned out well and God provided for

him throughout his journey, Joseph had a very difficult life with many times of uncertainty. He did not

know that he was going to find favor with his master or leave prison. And while he was able to care for

others during the famine, he did not know how his brothers or father were doing until they came to buy

grain.

Our lives are hopefully a lot less dramatic than Joseph’s, but we still wonder about our next steps and

decisions. What will happen after this move? Will I get the next job or promotion? What good can come

from this illness, disaster, or other unfortunate situation? Will my family or kids be OK?

In Charlie’s lesson, he tells a story where he is on the floor watching his grandmother sew. He is seeing

the mess of threads and wonders how what she is sewing will turn out well. She says that the issue is

that he is looking from the bottom up. If he gets up and looks from the top down like she is, he’ll see

that it looks just as it should.



That’s exactly it, isn’t it? We can’t see things from God’s perspective. Every now and then, we see some

connections that make sense. But we can’t see the entire picture. And we likely never will. We can only

seek His will, keep doing the best with what we’ve been given, and trust that His hand is working all

things together for good.

By Jason Grace

Jason serves at Immanuel with his wife and two kids. He is a software engineering manager.