Photo by "Fastfood"
I would like you to imagine for a moment. Imagine you’ve had a hard life. In fact, all of your acquaintance’s hardships look like a honeymoon compared to your life. Betrayed by your own family. Taken away from your home and everything familiar to you. Treated like a slave. Falsely accused of attempted rape. Thrown in jail for years. Forgotten by friends. I mean, how much worse can it get?
Would you give up on life? Would you despair? Would you harbour bitterness and resentment to all those who have hurt you? Probably.
But, what if all of those terrible things that happened to you, all those unthinkable circumstances, led to an opportunity to save people’s lives – and not just a few – hundreds and thousands of lives. Would it make the suffering worthwhile? If you knew in advance that all would turn out for good, would it make the hardships any easier? I wonder …
That is why I am so inspired by Joseph. That is exactly what happened to him. But, he never gave up. He never lost faith. He kept his integrity and held no grudge. And when he finally reunited with the very brothers who sold him into slavery, he did not have them executed, which by then he had enough power and authority to do. He welcomed them with open arms, forgiving, telling them not to feel bad.
“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” [Genesis 45:5-8 NIV]
I think from now on, when I go through hardships, I will try to remind myself that God may have something amazing in store, some huge turn of events to bring good out of these circumstances. After all, He did promise to make all things work together for our good. How about you?
Romancing The Rock 
What an awesome example Joseph is for anybody who has ever felt hard-done-by or victimized in any way. He’s fantastic proof that bitterness doesn’t have to be a logical follow-on from unfair treatment. I love the way he trusted that goodness would result from all that he went through, even though he had idea what it would turn out to be.
Definitely one of my all-time heroes.
I think Joseph is amazing to have kept his attitude right all those years. What an inspiration!