Can I Trust God in Hard Times?

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

I know that I am not alone in whining to God when things don’t go my way—at least I hope I’m not the only one! As a matter of fact, there are times when I get rather petulant when things don’t improve as quickly as I think they should. Yes, I know we live in a fallen world, and that disappointment is inevitable. But my pettish response is neither appropriate nor helpful. 

That is where the truth of Scripture comes to play. It challenges me to face my petulance and cry out to God for change.

Yesterday, my Scripture reading was the story of Joseph in Genesis. What a story! Mistreated by family members. Sold into slavery. Imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. What more could go wrong?

Well, a couple of his inmates were benefitted when Joseph correctly interpreted their dreams. One of them was restored to a position in the King’s palace and promised to tell the king about Joseph. However, he got caught up in his own good fortune and forgot all about Joseph for two years [Genesis 41:1]. “Two whole years,” is how the ESV states it.  

We’re not told in the text, but I wonder if Joseph threw a pity-party during that time. Surely he had questions for God while he languished in prison. Let’s face it, he had gone from a favored son to a prisoner through no fault of his own. 

What we forget is that we have the benefit of reading the story in one setting and find out that Joseph would, indeed, be released and rise to a high position beside the King. But Joseph didn’t have the benefit of that knowledge. He had to live out the entire two years one second at a time — all 32 million of them!

No Christ follower knows how the story of their life will play out. That’s why we need to be like Joseph and trust in God’s providential care. I know this in my mind, it’s my heart that falters when the going gets tough. 

Again, it’s the Scripture that feeds my soul. It comes through the pen of King David, “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” [Psalm 37:25, ESV]