Today, we are going to look at another lesson to learn from Joseph’s waiting season, which is an understanding that “God is with us”.
I know how contradictory this may sound, especially because many of us experience what seems like a lot of pain and frustration in our waiting season, and we may not be certain that God is with us in those times.
I want us to read Genesis 37 till 39 together, but before then let’s quickly look at a common story, the one where Jesus was asleep in the boat while the storm was raging (Matt 8, Mark 4)
Mark’s account of that story tells us that Jesus has told His disciples “Let us go across to the other side of the lake” vs 35. It means that they were acting on the word they had received from Jesus- they were right at the centre of God’s will.
But the fact that they were in alignment with Jesus’ instruction did not stop the storm from raging. In fact, as we would read in that story, the wave was so strong it almost filled their boat.
And Jesus was in that boat with them.
Through the turbulence, he slept so soundly because He knew that as long as He was in the boat with them, the waves could only make noise.
Also, in the story of Joseph, from the moment he was sold as a slave until he stood in front of the Pharaoh to interprete his dream, it was evident that God was with him.
He found favour with Potiphar because God made it so (Gen 39 vs 2-4), he was strengthened by God to discern distraction and flee temptation (Gen 39 vs 8- 11), and even in the prison (Gen 39 vs 21-23) the Lord remained with Joseph. The bible recorded that the Lord made him successful and He made him prosper. God kept him rooted for 13 years in a strange land.
As much as it might not have been the best of experiences for him- 13 troubling years, God had a plan for Joseph and that waiting period was his process.
One of the purposes of the waiting season is to grow to trust God even when our experiences does not yet seem like his promises and, to learn to push forward with the assurance that God is always on our side, especially when it doesn’t look like it.
God is with you, He always has been and He always will be, even when it seems like the storm in the waiting season is unbearable.
God is with you.
Psalms 16:8 “I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me”