Do you see God working right now to bring about a better future? It’s easy to struggle with that concept when the headlines are dire, and uncertainty prevails. How do we know that God is working in the present to bring our future?
I think that’s what the old stories are meant to remind us: God is working, we know that because he did it before.
Remember the story of Joseph? Joseph, the brat with the colorful coat whose brothers sold him into slavery. What if that story was never about Joseph, but about Jacob? About Israel. What if it’s the story of God preparing a place for his people before they knew they needed it.
Israel was living in the land that God gave them, but there was a famine; it was not producing fruit and they were starving.
So, he (Israel) sent his sons off to Egypt for grain, which they got, but it cost them a brother who was left behind, and they feared returning because they seemed to have returned with their money.
Time passed and they had to return. This time, Israel had to send his youngest and dearest son, his hope for the future, Benjamin.
On this visit to Egypt, the men discovered that this man who in charge, was the brother they sold so many years ago. Jacob discovered that the family’s future was in the hands of the son who was dead.
Joseph had gone ahead of them and prepared the future. He was a faithful servant whose suffering allowed God to prepare the way.
God has gone before us and is working in ways that we may not see to implement the plans he has for his people: plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Journey Through Scripture 