The story of Joseph is a good illustration of the point we stressed in our previous meditation. He made it to the top of God’s plan for his life, but the ride was far from smooth. The vision that God imprinted on his mind was to be a ruler. That took thirteen long years to make any meaning. He first had to endure the envy and cruelty of his own blood brothers. Not only were they uncomfortable with his dream but they hated the gut with which he asserted it before them. So they seized him and threw him into a dungeon. Later they sold him to a slave trader. To them that was like a good riddance to an arrogant youngster. There is no way anyone will connect any of these experiences of Joseph to what God showed him. And that was not the end of his travail. He would still have to fence off the temptation from his boss’s wife, which landed him in jail. Many wrongdoers will gladly receive the just recompense of their action; but few will dare suffer innocently.
Joseph did. Anyone reading about Joseph at this season of his life would not be able to correlate what was happening to what he claimed. Finally he was brought out of the prison and ushered in straight to the palace, having the whole world at his beck and call.

God’s word to Joseph eventually came to pass when his brothers came to him to buy corn. They could not hide their shock to see a man whom they thought had been forgotten becoming their succour…God can make good things to proceed from every evil you have been through.

God’s word to Joseph eventually came to pass when his brothers came to him to buy corn. They could not hide their shock to see a man whom they thought had been forgotten becoming their succour. Joseph’s word to his brothers is captured in our passage today; everything done to him by his brothers (and of course his boss’s wife) were meant for evil; but God turned them around for good. God can make good things to proceed from every evil you have been through.