WALKING WITH GOD IN EVERY SEASON

How Joseph’s Life Reveals God’s Faithfulness Through Every Stage of Our Journey

Like the tides of water, life seems to follow the movement of rising and falling. Even as seasons in our lives keep on changing, God doesn’t. He remains faithful in every season. His presence meets us even in the most unlikely and unfamiliar places and in desperate situations. His presence goes with us even when circumstances appear as though we are abandoned, forgotten, and defeated. God is the author of your story, just as He was with Joseph’s. He’s writing new chapters and preparing your breakthroughs, unimagined new opportunities, and restoration.

In Genesis 39, Joseph finds himself in unfamiliar circumstances. Being sold as a slave in a foreign land would only indicate that his life was on a downward trend. However, even as the tide turned against him, painting a picture of loneliness, betrayal, and abandonment, he was not alone. Genesis 39:2 reads, “The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered.” God’s favour found Joseph even in the hardest and undesired season.

Like Joseph, you may be in a hard and undesired situation, and the road ahead may also seem unclear to you. For you, it may feel like you are let down, or situations may have pushed you to dead ends. However, God sees you, He knows where you are and the pain you are going through. His presence is with you. In His presence, there’s strength in weakness, hope in hopelessness, and joy in pain.

God’s presence in Joseph’s life brought wisdom, success, and favour. Even those around him began to notice that there was something different about him. Not only did his success in Potiphar’s house attract favour in his master’s eyes, but it also attracted the wrong kind of attention. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him into sleeping with her. And when she faced rejection from Joseph, she twisted the story and used it against Joseph, which resulted in him being thrown into prison.

His imprisonment did not stop God’s presence from finding him. Genesis 39:20-21, “But while Joseph was there in prison, the LORD was with him.” God’s goodness is not limited by our circumstances, whether life has thrown you into a pit or prison, God’s presence will still find you. Like Joseph, people may do some unfair things to you, pulling you down when they see you are rising, speaking against you, or discrediting you because of your past, but that won’t stop God from showing His goodness to you. His goodness goes beyond the injustices, the pain, the heartbreak, the sickness, and the silent tears.

When our strength is depleted, and the hope is gone, God’s grace doesn’t trickle but flows to every area of our lives. The best thing that we can do is rest in His grace, trust in His timing, and continue in our faithfulness, passing the small tests, knowing that in due season, God will make a way. Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

There are times when God will allow certain hardships into our lives to prepare us for greater heights. As with Joseph, even though he was a person of integrity and faithful to his work, he encountered various trials and setbacks that prepared him for a greater leadership role that awaited him.

Joseph, after he had successfully interpreted the cupbearer’s dream, saw a ray of hope. He thought that the cupbearer would be his way out of prison. He said, “When all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.” Out of desperation, he placed his confidence in the cupbearer, hoping that he would remember him, but he didn’t. The moment the cupbearer got out of prison, he forgot about Joseph for two long years.

Isn’t this always the same with us, when we place our confidence in people instead of God? Don’t we often face disappointments when we strive to do things on our own outside God’s timing? If only we would rest our confidence in His timing and plans, then the burden of worry, control, and stress would grow less and less. God understands the season we are in and knows what season we are about to walk into, but first, He uses the season we are in to prepare us for the next. As a farmer trims a tree for growth, so does God when He refines our character and realigns our hearts according to His will through certain trials and hardships.

For the two more years Joseph spent in prison after the cupbearer was restored to his position, he thought he was forgotten. It must have felt like he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison, but God didn’t forget about him. When he thought he was forgotten, God was repositioning him for a greater blessing. When he thought his life was over, God was just about to usher him into the best part of his life.

A turnaround came in Genesis 41:14, “So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.” When God determines that it is your time, He moves swiftly. God works with precision, and His timing is perfect. Things for you may look permanent or delayed, but it is not a denial. Like Joseph, God will swiftly make a move on your case. He will open doors that seemed permanently shut, take you to unimagined heights, and cause opportunities to come and find you just as Pharaoh sent servants to get Joseph from prison.

When God makes a move, it brings transformation. “’When he had shaved and changed his clothes,’” The shaving of the head and changing of clothes symbolize transition. Joseph transitioned from being a prisoner to the Prime minister of Egypt, the second most powerful position in the land.

All the years that Joseph endured in a foreign land as a slave, in prison, the lonely nights, the struggles, and the long season of waiting were actually a way of God preparing him for the next best chapters of his life. God writes the story of each one of us. We may not always know the contents of the next chapter, but we can trust in the one who writes the story. He knows where we are in our story, what the next chapter holds, and how our story ends. Nothing that happens to us comes as a surprise to God; He knows it and understands it. Whenever we try to flip to the next chapter, when we haven’t yet completed the one we are in, it usually brings disappointment and pain. The best thing we can do is to flow with the pace of the author - God, so that our story can be a greater testimony to those who read it, just as God wrote the story of Joseph’s life.