Imagine: A good looking seventeen-year-old boy, clearly loved (and maybe even the favorite) of his parents... everything in this boys life is a dream and he has all he could need. Then one day everything goes wrong, the tables are turned on him and his brothers who were jealous and filled with hatred of him sold him into slavery. He had ten brothers, and not one of them stood up and pleaded on his behalf.
What I see in the person of Joseph in the Old Testament is a boy, a man, that defied all odds when it came to trusting God. Most people opt out when life throws them that many curve balls, that many tough scenarios, but Joseph just clung onto God even tighter.
He probably said "I trust you God" when most people would think "I give up on you God."
Every single thing that was comfortable was taken out of his life.
He was basically spit in the face by his own brothers, his own blood.
He had it all. Then he had nothing. In the blink of an eye all he knew was taken from him.
Two things from his story make my jaw drop:
1. That he said this: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives"
2. And that he forgave his brothers.
Joseph's trust in God was unfathomable. He trusted God even when he had nothing to show for God's faithfulness in his life... eventually however, he had a lot to show for it. Mainly, his life.
God is able to take the mess of our lives, our brokenness, our hardships, our sins, our failures, and make it beautiful. He is also mind-blowingly able to give people hearts of forgiveness when it doesn't even make sense. God does the unthinkable. And it's pretty rad.
