Joseph's Song part 2

After posting Joseph's Song, I've been doing some reading and some thinking.

We never read in Joseph's story that he complained about his circumstances. We don't hear him yelling or accusing God of lying to him. We don't hear about him getting bitter. Maybe he did, but we never read about it. Instead we read about how he kept trusting God and kept being faithful to him. At the end of the story, Joseph is not bitter or angry - he says to his brothers that what they meant for harm, God meant for good. He didn't allow his circumstances to mess up his view of God.

Well, I'm afraid that I let my circumstances mess up my view of God. If I believe God is asking me to do something and it all goes wrong, then I have been known to ask God, "You don't lie, but were you lying to me? Why did this happen?" And I've been known to get bitter and angry.

Circumstances don't have to dictate my trust in God. God is good, His plans for me are good - it's hard to see that when things are going bad. And I'm so glad that we have the cross to look to as ultimate proof of God's goodness and love towards us. Joseph didn't have that, but he still trusted God.

I hope that next time things go wrong, I won't listen to the voice of Satan that says to me, "See how much your God loves you! If He really loved you, He wouldn't let this happen." I hope that I look at the cross and remember that there is no greater love than this: a man laying down his life for his friends.