Waiting is hard.  No
one likes it.  We get anxious…we get
antsy and we get agitated.  We get
frustrated and even sometimes angry when we have to wait.  It is not fun, and yet it is a standard part
of life. 

One of the things that stands out to me as I read the Bible
is just how much time passes in the stories – particularly in the Old
Testament.  We read these stories, many
times with a certain familiarity, and even if we don’t know how they end, they
are so condensed that within a page or two a problem has been resolved, or God
has spoken further encouragement, or victory has been won.  When you know the end as you read the
beginning the problems faced by the characters become far less…real.  Oh we can engage and get some sense of the
character’s stress or fear or hurt, but we know it all turns out in the end, so
there’s nothing to worry about!  But real
life doesn’t work that way, and it didn’t for the characters in our Bibles
either.  We read the story and gloss over
weeks or years or decades or sometimes even CENTURIES all in a verse or two.

This week we read the story of Joseph, a man who honored God
all through his life and got nothing for his devotion but pain and
hardship.  He was betrayed and almost murdered
by his own brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused and imprisoned, and at
each turn he still honored God and sought to obey him.  Sure, we know in the end he became the Second
to Pharaoh, rich and powerful and saving everyone, but that came literally
DECADES after his brothers first betrayed him. 
Year after year he must have wondered what he did to make God so angry
with him…why again and again as he did good he found only evil and hurt.

The Bible tells us that God was with him and blessed him at
each turn, but it must have been hard to see those blessings on the slavers
caravan or in the Egyptian dungeon.  Head
of the prisoners is still a prisoner, and Joseph did not know if his situation
would ever change.

It did, and God brought him out into an incredible position
and saved many people through him, but Joseph did not know this, and had no way
of counting down the days to his freedom. 
He was trapped, and as far as he knew always would be.

Which makes the final aspect all the more amazing and
important – he STILL honored God.  Even
when Pharaoh asks him to come interpret his dream there is no promise of
freedom.  Joseph could have said, “What
has God ever done for me…I’m going to save myself!” and tried to take the
credit for interpreting Pharaoh’s dream. 
But no, he says, “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer
he desires.”  Joseph, facing perhaps his
only shot at freedom if he makes himself look like a magical dream interpreter,
gives God the glory.  Unbelievable.

Does our relationship with God rely on good gifts from
him?  Or can we give him praise and glory
and honor even when things are hard…and even if we can’t see the light at the
end of the tunnel.  Joseph did…I hope I
can too.

Joseph
saw that God is all that matters, no matter what was happening in his
life.  I pray that God would help me to
see that truth too.