At the End of the Day

“The Lord brought me here. The Lord brought me here. The Lord brought me here. The Lord…”

I wonder if Joseph repeated that phrase in the dry well, on the long journey to Egypt, in Potiphar’s house, in prison? If he did, I wonder how many times he repeated it? Did it become like a mantra, a constantly remembered reassurance that even in the darkest circumstances, in the moments of despair and disappointment, God had some plan in mind?

If he was anything like the rest of us, and I suspect he was, he had many moments when he wondered what good could possibly come out of any of his circumstances. We are left to speculate about that question.

In Genesis 45, Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers. Three times in three verses he used phrases that were meant to reassure his brothers. These same phrases tell us what Joseph believed about his incredible journey.

“…God sent me ahead of you” (45:5, NIV).

“…God sent me ahead of you” (45:7, NIV).

“…it was not you who sent me here, but God” (45:8).

We have no guarantees that every difficult circumstance not of our making or caused by our own sin, will end up as Joseph’s story did. The latter part of Hebrews 11 reminds us that what happens here during our life span is not the end of our story. We live for another day, another end, another goal, for which God has sent us. As in the story of Joseph, it is not how the journey ends that counts, but the character of the man who takes that journey.

It may please Him to grant us “success” as the world defines it—or not. But when we walk with Him and wait on Him, we will always be able to say, whatever the circumstances: “It was not you who sent me here, but God.”