This Sunday our story leaps forward from Sarah & Abraham, right past their son Isaac, landing just after Isaac’s son Jacob’s life, almost near the end of Jacob’s son Joseph’s amazing life. Phew! Joseph’s story is marked by unpredictable challenges—betrayal by his brothers, enslavement, imprisonment—and yet, through it all, God was at work. In Genesis 50, Joseph tells his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” This verse reveals the mysterious way God weaves even our hardships into a larger story of redemption.
We often struggle to see God’s presence when life feels chaotic. It’s easy to feel abandoned when our plans fall apart, but Joseph’s story reminds us that God is present even in the mess. Richard Rohr writes, “The great and merciful surprise is that we come to God not by doing it right but by doing it wrong!”[1] Our brokenness and failures are not outside the scope of God’s work—in fact, they are the very places where God’s grace shines most brightly.
Like Joseph, we are invited to trust that God is using even the most painful parts of our story for good. We may not understand how God is at work, but we can rest in the assurance that our lives are part of a much bigger narrative of grace and healing.
I encourage you to take time today to reflect on the challenges you are facing. How might God be working through them to bring about something good, even if it’s not immediately visible? Trust that, like Joseph, you are part of a larger story, one that God is still writing.
May God’s peace find you today. -Pastor Peter
Let’s pray… God of all seasons, help us trust your presence in our struggles, knowing you can turn even our pain into something good. Amen.
[1] Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life. Jossey-Bass, 2011.