Genesis 39:20-21- “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him.”
I find the story of Joseph a beautiful, yet heartbreakingly puzzling one. Such a crazy series of ups and downs- loved by his father, yet despised by his brothers. Appreciated and uplifted by his boss, then unfairly thrown in jail by him. Serving and helping those in jail, but ignored for years before being freed himself. It’s a truly crazy story! But the most amazing thing in this story is that it is filled with a lot of subtle, amazing points like this phrase, “But… the Lord was with him.”
I spent a summer in west Africa in one of the poorest countries in the world in medical school. The city I stayed in was once a thriving metropolis, but after a series of wars, they were left without running water, or electricity, or access to healthcare, or so many things we take for granted. I will never forget when one of the pastors told me, “You who have been so blessed- you don’t know what it’s like to be desperate.”
I thought it was a striking comment. Because I’ve had my ups and downs in life as well. It’s easy to get angry or despondent or jealous when life is throwing you insane curveballs. It’s easy to get hopeless, or manipulative, or depressed when things go opposite of how they should. It’s easy to lie, or steal, or blame others in our own hardships. But it’s not always easy to see God with us in the middle of our prisons, in the middle of our hurt, in the middle of our pain.
But even in the depths of our desperation, our undeserved dredges, our lowest of lows, our inconceivable situations- what do we see? Do we see our own hardship or God’s simple blessings in our life? Do we see our painful circumstances or His enduring compassion? Our fears and regrets or His love? Are we so blurred by our desperation that we cannot see anything clearly? Or are we so blurred by our blessings that we cannot see anything clearly?
Our strength is not found in the power or magnitude of our pain. Our strength is found in the magnitude and ability of our God. Our God never leaves us. He never gives up on us. He often doesn’t do things the way we want, or expect, or feel like we need in the moment, but He never leaves.
Because the truth, in spite of it all- in spite of how bad it gets, and how desperate we get, how frustrated we are, how down we are, or how blessed we have been- the truth is always that “The Lord was with Him.”
Regardless of where you are today, do you still see the Lord with you?