Joseph comes across as a cocky teenager. You can read about him here. (The whole story is found in Genesis 37-50.) When his older brothers have had all they can stand of him, they do what most older brothers would do–they sell him to some guys on their way to another country. Nice, huh?

It gets better though. They take Joseph’s coat, dip it in goat’s blood and show it to their father. He assumes Joseph has been eaten by a wild animal. Naturally, he’s devastated. And of course the brothers say nothing. For a really long time.

Fast forward a little more than 13 years. Joseph is second-in-command over the nation of Egypt. Sounds great, but it wasn’t before spending a number of years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

So due to a famine, his brothers come from their home in Canaan to Egypt to buy food. Joseph recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him. Okay, how much fun would that be?!

What does Joseph do? He acts pretty much like most of us would–he totally messes with them! You’ll have to read the story to find out all he does. It’s good stuff.

Anyway, once he’s had all his fun, he says to his brothers:

“I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 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 a famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be 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.”

I’ve never been betrayed by family members. I’ve never been sold as a slave. I’ve never been falsely accused of a crime and sent to prison.

But I have felt abandoned by God before. I’ve been angry with Him for allowing difficult circumstances in my life when I thought I’d done everything He’d wanted.

If anyone had the “right” to be angry, it was Joseph, but he didn’t give into self-pity or bitterness toward God. Joseph chose to see into the spiritual realm where God’s fingerprints were all over his circumstances.

Joseph chose to see that hard, painful, ugly mess he went through was necessary to save lives. He was fitting into a plan that was much bigger than just himself. God was at work, fulfilling an oath He’d made to Joseph’s great-grandfather, Abraham. God was creating a great nation through whom He would reveal His power and glory…and through whom He would one day save the world from sin.

You may be in the midst of some really hard stuff. Unemployment. Cancer. A divorce. Maybe something was done to you, something that hurt deeply. It doesn’t seem fair. You didn’t do anything to deserve it.

Choose to remember the story isn’t over. God hasn’t forgotten you. He’s at work whether you see Him or not. He will work this out for your good. You are part of something that is much bigger than you. Choose to trust Him. Hold onto Him. Don’t give up.

He just may be saving lives through you.