Handling Discouragement Series

I think Joseph could have written the book, “Why do bad things happen to good people” because everything that happened to him was the result of somebody else’s sin. He must have asked himself the question, if God rewards the faithful then why are my brothers home with my father and why is Potiphar’s wife still living in the palace while I’m stuck in prison. Why am I the one who’s suffering when everyone sinned?

At the end of the book of Genesis we read Joseph’s comment to his brothers on how he saw all the negative events in his life when he said, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.”

And because we know the end of the story when we’re reading about his traumatic experiences we assume that he saw the same thing but listen, Joseph didn’t know the specifics of the will of God; all he knew were his dreams, and yet, that was enough to keep him faithful.

You see, in spite of his trying situations he knew that God had a purpose for everything he went through and as Paul would say three thousand years later, “All things work together for good for them that love God.” And they did, in spite of the fact that from the time Joseph received his dreams and these dreams were fulfilled twenty-two years went by. But, it was his faith in the plan of God that kept him going.

As Victor Frankel wrote, “We can endure anything as long as we know there is a purpose for it.” And Joseph knew in his heart; God has a purpose for everything that happens. And listen, no matter what’s happening in your life, God had a purpose for that too.

I like how C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.”

And then the second person I want to look at is David because he was certainly someone who had his fair share of discouragements and I can think of two experiences that must have almost broke his heart.

The first one would have been his relationship with Saul. Saul would have been an imposing figure to someone like David. The scripture says he was tall, handsome and for a while he was considered to be a war hero when he had first been crowned king of Israel. David as the youngest of Jesse’s sons had two opportunities to meet Saul and the first was when he had killed Goliath and then later when he would play his harp to soothe Saul’s troubled spirit. Saul had been a father figure, a mentor and a role model to David. And because he thought so much of him David was literally at his beck and call twenty-four hours a day. He ate at Saul’s table, married Saul’s daughter and he was best friends with Jonathon Saul’s son and as time went on David assumed more and more responsibility in his kingdom.

But; rather than seeing him as the loyal subject he was Saul began to see him as a threat to his throne and ended up chasing David all over the country trying to kill him. And during this time David was forced to live on the run and spent three years sleeping in caves and open fields and finally had to leave Israel and hide out with the Philistines, who were the enemies of Israel.