Devotional: Joseph on the Providence of God

Genesis 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

I love Joseph. Here he was a teen age boy, thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers, sold to slave traders and taken to Egypt-- a strange country, framed by his boss's wife, thrown into prison and forgotten there for several years and then God gives him the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream and he is elevated to second in command of the whole land. He gives praise to God when he says, "God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." Somehow, he had developed a perspective that caused him to see the hand of God in all his troubles. Take a look at the following verses:

Genesis 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Genesis 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Do you see the pattern of Joseph's thinking? God has caused me; God did send me;God sent me;it was not you that sent me...but God. God is the first cause of all things in Joseph's life and he knew it. Oh, how I want to develop this same mind set! Imagine what an impact it would have on our society if a generation of teenagers were raised up to have this mindset and the integrity of Joseph?!