Trusting God in the Waiting

By Laura McDowell

My mind was absolutely blown away recently by something I read in one of my favorite

stories in the Bible, the story of Joseph. Even though I’ve read Joseph’s story many times, I

realized something about it that I had never noticed before and it completely put a whole new perspective on it for me. It’s a statement I’ve somehow overlooked my entire life. Are you ready? Here we go.

In case you are unfamiliar with the story of Joseph, here’s the backstory. Joseph was

originally from the land of Canaan and had 10 half-brothers and 1 full brother. God had given

Joseph the gift of having prophetic dreams and being able to interpret them, which made his half-brothers jealous when Joseph told them not once, but twice, that eventually he would become so great that they would end up bowing down to him some day. They became so jealous of him that they ended up selling him to some slave traders who took him to Egypt and sold him to a man named Potiphar, who the Bible tells us was “an officer of the king of Egypt [Pharaoh] and the captain of his palace guards” (Genesis 37:36).

So, Joseph became a slave in Potiphar’s household and the Bible tells us that,

“The Lord helped Joseph become a successful man…Potiphar was very happy with

Joseph. He allowed Joseph to work for him and to help him rule the house. Joseph was the ruler over everything Potiphar owned…Potiphar didn’t have to worry about anything except deciding what to eat” (Genesis 39:2, 4, 6).

Even though Joseph had now become a slave, the Lord was still with him and helped him to become successful and gain favor in Potiphar’s sight. Potiphar entrusted everything to Joseph, to the point where he literally only had to worry about what to eat.

The Bible also says that “Joseph was a very handsome, good-looking man” (Genesis

39:6), so much so that Potiphar’s wife started to pay special attention to him after a while. She came to him at one point and asked him to sleep with her, which he adamantly refused stating, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has given me responsibility for everything here. My master has made me almost equal to him in his house. I cannot sleep with his wife! That is wrong! It is a sin against God!” (Genesis 39:8-9). Potiphar’s wife continued to pressure Joseph daily to sleep with her, but every time he refused. One day he went into the house to do his work, and she “grabbed his coat and said to him, ‘Come to bed with me.’ But Joseph ran out of the house so fast that he left his coat in her hand” (Genesis 39:12). At this point, Potiphar’s wife was so angry with Joseph for continuing to refuse her that she used the coat to frame him and accuse him of trying to attack her. “Joseph’s master [Potiphar] listened to what his wife said, and he became very angry. So, Potiphar put Joseph into the prison where the king’s enemies were held, and that is where Joseph remained” (Genesis 39:19-20).

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But the Lord was still with Joseph in prison. Genesis 39:21-23 says:

“The Lord was with Joseph and continued to show his kindness to him, so the commander of the prison guards began to like Joseph. The commander of the guards put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. Joseph was their leader, but he still did the same work they did. The commander of the guards trusted Joseph with everything that was in the prison. This happened because the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did.”

Are we seeing the theme here? But hold on, it gets better. This is the part that blew me away. Who was the commander of the guards that was over this prison, who had had such favor on Joseph?

“Later…Pharaoh became angry with his baker and wine server, so he put them in the same prison as Joseph. Potiphar, the commander of Pharaoh’s guards, was in charge of this prison. The commander put the two prisoners under Joseph’s care” (Genesis 40:1-4).

Um ok, how have I never known that Potiphar was the one in charge of the prison that Joseph was in? I think I must have missed that day in Sunday school. I mean, yes, I knew that

“the Lord was with Joseph” even in prison, but knowing this one little fact shows how much the Lord was with him. God’s hand was literally on every single aspect of Joseph’s life, directing his life from the time he was born until the time he died. He was orchestrating every single event. Joseph just so happened to be sold to Midianite slave traders, who just so happened to stop in the city in Egypt where Potiphar lived, and Joseph just so happened to be bought by Potiphar, who just so happened to be the commander of the prison Joseph would eventually be thrown into, and who also just so happened to be an officer to the king of Egypt. Pharaoh’s baker and wine server just so happened to be thrown into the same prison Joseph was in, and they both just so happened to have dreams that Joseph just so happened to be able to interpret because Joseph just so happened to have the gift of interpreting dreams and it just so happened that eventually Pharaoh would have a dream that no one could interpret and the wine server just so happened to remember at that moment that Joseph could interpret dreams and he just so happened to mention it to Pharaoh who sent for him.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Were all these events just pure happenstance?

No, God orchestrated every single facet of Joseph’s life. God had him exactly where he was

supposed to be, even when he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. Joseph’s story

doesn’t end there. His story is ultimately one of forgiveness and redemption and it ends

beautifully, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. You see, God was able to see the big picture of Joseph’s life the entire time. God had promised Joseph, through his initial dreams, that someday he would become someone great, of high importance. He had a huge plan for Joseph’s life, but Joseph couldn’t see the big picture. His job was to take one step at a time, believing that God would fulfill his promise. He certainly would have had moments of doubt, wondering if God was really good, but he remained obedient and faithful. The Lord was with him.

Joseph wasn’t born into greatness. He wasn’t born famous, and his life was full of small,

mundane things. Elisabeth Elliott said,

“God reveals himself to the humble in small things. It’s in small things mostly. Most of our lives are made up of small things. He does not give us heroics. He’s not asking you and me to do some great thing. If he has something great for you to do some time, you will have to be prepared over a long, quiet, hidden course that nobody’s going to notice.”

Joseph was about 17 when he was sold into slavery in Egypt, and he was 30 years old when he finally became governor over the whole country of Egypt (Genesis 41:45-46), so that’s a total of 13 years of waiting. 13 years of waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled, and performing small, menial, mundane tasks day after day after day and ultimately being forgotten about. But God never forgot about him. There was not one second of those 13 years that God wasn’t with Joseph. And through it all, Joseph remained faithful and obedient to the Lord, even when he couldn’t see the outcome. And because of Joseph’s faithfulness and obedience, the Lord allowed Joseph to gain favor in the sight of all those around him, beginning with Potiphar and ending all the way up with Pharaoh. He had gone from lowly slave to becoming governor over the whole country of Egypt. I mean, come on, that’s a miracle only God can do!

There’s more to Joseph’s story, but we’ll end there for now. The story of Joseph is one

of my favorite stories because it’s ultimately a story of waiting, perseverance, forgiveness, redemption, and hope. Joseph’s story has served as a reminder for generations that God will be with us in whatever we go through, that he will fulfill his promises, and that we must continue to remain faithful and obedient to him throughout it all. Take one step at a time and trust Him. He is with you.