Holding onto the Promises of God

Genesis 37

Joseph was set apart by God for special things.  God gave Joseph dreams that were veiled and mysterious.  Joseph knew God had a great task for him, but he didn’t know the specifics.  

What he did know was that his brothers bowed down to him in his dream.  

I wonder how he felt as he sat in the pit his brothers threw him in to.  I wonder if he despaired or believed all was lost and everything was now hopeless.  Maybe he even believed the dream was meaningless nonsense.

Or maybe the dream gave Joseph hope.  Maybe it was something he clung to in faith in his darkest hours.  

I have seen God work in this way in my life over and over again.  He whispers a promise, and yet it is never immediately fulfilled.  The road to a promise fulfilled is usually a long one with lots of twists and turns and many difficult and dark places.   

God was planning on using Joseph in a huge way.  Not only that, but Joseph would eventually reap many blessings.  God used the hard and dark places to shape and form Joseph’s character.  He wanted to get Joseph to a place where he could receive the blessings in a way that would be pleasing to God.

God promises and nothing can hinder or halt that promise from being fulfilled.  All may seem lost, but God is greater than the hard times and the times of despair.  He is using the pits and prisons of life to conform us into His image, so that we can be more pleasing and more useful to Him.

How abundant are the good things, that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,   on those who take refuge in you. Psalm 31:19

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.  -Psalm 31:24