Doesn't Matter What Direction.....

Genesis 39:1
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt...........

Against his will....
Against his wishes......
Joseph was taken by force to a place he did not envision as part of his future.

Matthew 4:1
The Jesus was driven (led) by the Spirit into the desert......

Part of the plan.
God sometimes draws us, leads us and, yes, forces us into places we other wise would not have chosen for our self.
The story of Joseph is perhaps the most dramatic story in Scripture.
Even in this terrible event of being beaten by his brothers and then sold into slavery, God was with Joseph.
You see, we cannot base how well we are doing spiritually on whether our life situations and circumstances seem to be positive and upbeat and in our favor. If we insist on measuring our Christianity in this manner, we will be sorely disappointed and probably will miss what God is doing.

The directions of God for our life is sometimes unknown to us. In the day to day movement or our life, we are not always keenly aware of God's hand or plan for us. We tend to see what God is doing, after the fact when we look back on our circumstances.

Sometimes what looks like tragedy and defeat only gives way to the realization that God was at work behind the scene carrying out a bigger and greater plan.
For Joseph, standing before his brothers.....the very ones who sold him into slavery, Joseph realized that God has sent him ahead to Egypt to put in place the very things that would preserve and deliver his family from famine and death.

I know that each of us have problems and troubles we are going through today, this very instant. Be faithful in the midst of the storm you are in. Keep crying out to God, but ask Him to take today's grief and sorrow and turn into to good for the future.
God is in control (I know...we say it over and over...but you know what? God IS in control.)

God on you.........
mb