"Help! Please don't leave me here." Joseph's muffled cries rang out from in the pit. He couldn't believe that his elder brothers could actually cast him into this hole. They wouldn't leave him here, would they? They just couldn't. "Help!"
"C'mon, don't mind him," said one brother. "Let's eat; I'm starved." It had been a long, hot day, grazing their flock, so it was a relief when they finally sat down to have some bread. While they ate, talked, and laughed, with their 17-year-old brother's cries in the background, the ever-increasing sound of a caravan interrupted their meal. They looked up, and saw The traveling caravan with camels bearing spices, balm, and myrrh. The caravan belonged to traveling merchants.
One brother by the name of Judah said, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." (Genesis 37:26-27, WEB) The rest of the brothers thought it was a good idea, so for twenty pieces of silver, they sold their little brother to the merchants.
By and by, the merchants arrived at their destination, Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of the guard of Pharaoh. The captain put Joseph in charge of all his household and business, and because God was with Joseph, all that Joseph did was successful, and consequently the captain prospered greatly.
As days passed, followed by weeks and months, Joseph matured into a very handsome young man, catching the eye of Potiphar's wife. Day after day, she asked him to sleep with her, but he refused every time, saying, "Behold, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:8-9)
One day as they were alone in the house, the woman grabbed on to Joseph, demanding him to sleep with her, but he ran away, leaving his garment in her hands. When Potiphar returned, his wife accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. Furious, Potiphar threw Joseph into the dungeon, where he spent for years.
One night, Pharaoh of Egypt had two disturbing dreams, and once he was told that Joseph had accurately interpreted people's dreams before, he brought Joseph out of the dungeon and asked him to interpret the dreams for him. God made the dreams' interpretation known to Joseph, who told Pharaoh that the dreams meant that there would be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of severe famine in that entire region. He also suggested that Pharaoh store up some crops during the seven years of plenty, so there would be some food during the famine. In response, Pharaoh made Joseph the governor of Egypt, second in rank to the Pharaoh himself.
Once the famine rolled in, people throughout the land went to Egypt to buy grain, for only Egypt had stored crops. Among the buyers were Joseph's brothers who sold him twenty years ago. When they came before Joseph, they didn't recognize him. When he revealed himself to them, they were startled and frightened. But Joseph told them, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt." (Gen 45:4-8)
How was Joseph able to endure the injustice, the terror, the heartbreak, and the separation from his family all these decades? How was he able to forgive his brothers for committing such wrong against him? Above all, how was it that he never questioned or doubted God during his suffering? Because he simply trusted in Yahweh God Almighty. It was his simple faith in God that God had everything under control. He understood that God had a purpose for him, even though at first, he didn't grasp what that was exactly. Through his suffering and pain, God was working for everyone's good.
Now, what can we learn from the experiences of Joseph? How can we survive our own suffering and troubles like him? His story tells us that trust in God is the key. Only when we trust God will we be able to endure our hardships. And its only when we trust God will we be able to love Him unconditionally in spite all that we go through and see others going through.
How can we, like Joseph, love God unconditionally despite the suffering, the darkness, the hardship that surround us? By trusting God. Think about it: Can we love someone if we don't trust them? So love stems from trust. Therefore, to love God unconditionally is trusting Him unconditionally regardless of what we may face.
Unconditional trust is the ability to trust God despite all the difficulties, hardships, suffering, and evil of life. Unconditional trust is trusting God even when our circumstances seem to contradict all that is good and just. Unconditional trust is having trust in God despite seemingly hopeless situations.
Unconditional trust in God does not require the answers to our "why?" questions. It does not require for us to presently understand why God permits suffering and evil, why God allows people to experience difficulties, or why God does not end evil altogether right away. Unconditional trust is the simple faith in God. The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)
But the question now is: Why should we trust God? What good reasons do we have for trusting God under any and all circumstances?
To trust God, we must understand and keep in mind the unchangeable qualities of Yahweh God Almighty. Let's review some of His divine qualities:
1) Yahweh is sovereign: God is in absolute control. There's absolutely nothing in the universe that He cannot and does not control. Even seemingly bad circumstances are under His control. Everything happens on Earth only because He permits it. It is impossible for anything to happen without His control, permission, or will. Not even the fall of a sparrow is not without His will (Matthew 10:29).
2) Yahweh is omniscient: God is all-knowing. He knows everything that has ever happened, that is happening, and that will happen. Even before you think about doing something, He will know about it. Nothing can be hidden from Him, good or bad. He knows even the count of hair on your head (Matthew 10:30). While we are focused on the "now," God sees the whole big picture and the eternal future, so nothing is a surprise or an "accident" to Him.
3) Yahweh is omnipotent: God is all-powerful. He can do anything and everything. There's nothing that He cannot do...except to die.
4) Yahweh is love: God is not simply an all-loving God; God is the very representation of love itself. However, we must redefine love. Our society associates love with a warm, fuzzy feeling that is self-seeking. On the other hand, real, godly love is self-sacrificial love, and a love that loves what is good only. God does not love "unconditionally"--He doesn't love evil. He loves only good and hates what is evil. Thus, from this quality of love, comes His other qualities: justice, righteousness, and judgment.
5) Yahweh is light: Light represents all that is pure, good, holy, righteous, truthful, and faithful. We may consider some people to be "good" and "righteous," but no one can measure up to God's light. Jesus said that only God is purely good, in whom there's no darkness at all (Matthew 19:17; 1 John 1:5).
6) Yahweh is immutable: God does not change. His essence and qualities will never change. If He is all-knowing and all-loving today, He will remain all-knowing and all-loving forever. This also means that when He unconditionally promises something, He will always fulfill His promise. God cannot and does not lie.
When we put all these qualities together, we have absolutely no excuse not to trust Yahweh God at all times at all costs; it would be unreasonable not to trust Him. Only God can be trusted unconditionally, because only He is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, all-loving, and unchanging. However, trusting Jesus, the Son of God, is equal to trusting God Himself, since Jesus is the exact spiritual image of God (Colossians 1:15). This is trusting the Trustworthy. This is how countless number of believers throughout the history of humanity have been willing to die for their faith in God, suffering all sorts of torture in the hands of ruthless persecutors (Hebrews 11:35-40). These people trusted in God and His promises, plans, and purposes, knowing fully this truth:
"All things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) No matter what happens in life, good or bad, small or big, absolutely everything will work out for good for those who love God. And how do we love God? By trusting Him and doing His will. So this means that everything will work out for good for those who trust in God and who do His will. Our circumstances may seem as if God doesn't care for us, but nothing can be further from the truth. God not only cares, but He has everything under control, and He has already planned everything out so that all things will conclude for our own good, and for His own glory. Right now, it is impossible for our imperfect and finite minds to comprehend how the evil events of the world could possibly work out good for us, but as long as we trust in God unwaveringly, we don't have to comprehend right now. Someday, we will all see the conclusion of His masterpiece, and once we do, we will understand, and glorify God for working everything out so perfectly and beautifully!
In conclusion, how can we survive our storms in life? By simply trusting in God. How can we love God unconditionally despite all the suffering we see around us? Again, by simply trusting Him. Trusting God does not require us to ignore or pretend that suffering doesn't exist. Trusting God is trusting Him in spite of suffering. In fact, when we trust Him in midst of suffering, that proves that we truly do trust Him. Think about it: if we had a perfect, prosperous, and problem-free life, trusting God would be a piece of cake taken for granted. It would not be too hard for us to trust a lifeboat when we're on dry land. But when we're out in storm-tossed seas, we would look on that lifeboat in a whole new way. Likewise, when we trust God as we suffer, that means we are serious about depending on Him and Him alone. And God is more trustworthy than a lifeboat; a lifeboat may save us temporary at best, but our God will save us eternally.
Our trust is most evident, genuine, and deep when we suffer. This trust in God will make us victors, not victims, when our suffering seems to overwhelm us, even to the point of death. Indeed, trusting God doesn't mean that we won't encounter troubles in life. It doesn't even mean that we will physically survive our storms. What it does mean is that even though we may not physically survive, we will survive as victors when we are resurrected unto eternal life on God's appointed time in the future, and thus, our victory will last forever, as opposed to our temporal suffering.
We must know that the troubles we experience now, however painful they may be, are temporary and are passing. What lies ahead, in eternity future, is what we need to set our eyes and hearts on, because God has it all planned out. God's Word says, "Our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we don't look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
The Bible also says, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us." (Romans 8:18) So focus on and trust in God's eternal promises, because our current suffering is insignificant when compared to our future guaranteed glory, so long as we remain faithful to God and Jesus!
My friend, if you want to win the eternal crown of glory, come to a saving faith in Yahweh and Jesus Christ if you haven't already. Open up your heart to the One who has given you the breath of life, and the One who has offered you eternal life. Don't die along with your troubles in life; embrace the glory that's waiting for you once your troubles pass. Today is your day of salvation, for tomorrow may be too late. Once you pass away or when Jesus returns (whichever comes first), it would be too late for you to change your mind and repent--the door to eternal life would close, and Jesus would say to you, "Most certainly I tell you, I don't know you." (Matthew 25:10-13).
Whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved. Repent and call on Him, now.
Dr. Shirley Cheng (b. 1983), a blind and physically disabled award-winning author with twenty-seven book awards, proclaimer of Jehovah God's good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, Summa Cum Laude (Highest Honor) graduate with Doctor of Divinity, motivational speaker, self-empowerment expert, poet; author of nine books (including "Do You Love Jehovah?"), contributor to twenty-five, and an editor of one; and a parental rights advocate, has had severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since infancy. Owing to years of hospitalization, she received no education until age eleven. Back then, she knew only her ABCs and very simple English; other than that, her book knowledge was non-existent. However, after only about 180 days of special education in elementary school, she mastered grade level and entered a regular sixth grade class in middle school. Unfortunately, Shirley lost her eyesight at the age of seventeen. After a successful eye surgery, she hopes to earn multiple science doctorates from Harvard University. http://www.shirleycheng.com
Do you have questions about the Bible? Something you don't understand? Do you need a bit of guidance in developing a relationship with Jehovah? Then Shirley would like to help you! Please contact her via her site at http://www.shirleycheng.com and she would be more than glad to do her best to answer your questions! Never hesitate to ask questions, for no question about the Bible is ever too small or stupid.