Remember that Sunday School lesson about Joseph and the coat of many colors? How his jealous brothers sold him into slavery? Then after years of being a slave, Joseph was wrongly imprisoned and languished there for years? After Joseph was released from prison, seven years of “severe famine” came upon the land, causing widespread suffering – not unlike the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic today.
Joseph faced hatred, rejection, false accusations and imprisonment, loneliness, and a national disaster. Yet at the end of the story, rather than questioning why God allowed him to suffer, he praises the benevolence of God as he says to his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
Can we as Christians see the benevolence of God as we suffer? We might not face the same struggles as Joseph but can we, too, look beyond our own sorrows to see a greater purpose for ourselves and our world, a purpose given to us by God himself? Absolutely!
In looking at the life of Joseph, we find the following truths, which help us see the goodness that God is doing in the midst of so much suffering.
God wants you to love your neighbor. Due to his ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph was removed from prison and promoted to Governor. Before the famine began, he mandated that the warehouses be filled with grain so that there would be enough food to carry Egypt through the famine. If it weren’t for Joseph’s wisdom, planning, and willingness to share, most of the people and animals of the land would have perished.
How is God calling you to look after your neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic? Can you go to the grocery store for an at-risk neighbor? Buy toiletries for someone who lost their job? Bring the peace and hope of Jesus to those suffering with fear and anxiety (Philippians 4:4-8)? Remember that God calls you to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), so as you care for yourself during the quarantine, make sure also to care for your neighbor.
God wants to restore your family. Joseph’s brothers sold him to slave traders and allowed their father to think he had been mauled to death by a wild animal. Can you imagine the resentment that could have built up over the course of 20 years due to such a betrayal? What kind of resentment has been building between your family members in recent months or years – husband and wives, parents and children, immediate family members and extended?
During the famine Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy bread from Governor Joseph. Instead of being resentful, Joseph forgave his brothers and was reunited with his beloved father. Had it not been for the terrible famine, this restoration would never have happened.
Let’s find ways, during our COVID-19 quarantine, to strengthen our families so that we, too, can say that if it weren’t for the pandemic, our family would never have gotten so strong. How? Turn off the gadgets (ALL of them) and do things together: play games, read the Bible, read books, go for walks, play in the backyard, learn something new together, look each other in the eyes and get to know one another more deeply. Realize that life is short and precious and we could lose each other at any moment. Appreciate the gift of family.
God wants you to reflect His light into the darkness. Joseph could have questioned God’s goodness and gotten angry while suffering through slavery, false imprisonment, and famine. He could have refused to obey God until everything was “right” again. Instead, he simply continued to obey God and trust in God’s plan even when nothing made sense.
We as Christians know that there will be hard times in life (John 16:33). There is darkness in this world and it takes many forms: pandemics, genocide, human trafficking, abortion, etc. Suffering was not in God’s original plan for humanity, but since sin entered the world, suffering did as well.
But thank God that he is a “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trials, that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). We also thank God that He works for the GOOD of those who love Him and who have been called by Him (Romans 8:28). Most importantly, we thank God for the hope of eternity in heaven with Him – because even if every single moment of our life on earth is filled with pain, we know that those who repent and follow Jesus will spend eternity in heaven where there is “no more death, nor sorrow, no crying…no more pain” (Revelation 21:4).
So let’s be the BOLD, JOYFUL, HOPEFUL, PEACE-FILLED Jesus followers who pull others out of their pit of despair and show them that no matter what happens on earth, we have the hope of eternity in heaven with Jesus! In fact, it’s our primary purpose on earth to point others to Jesus – and people are never more apt to think of their own mortality than when they’re in the midst of a deadly catastrophe like COVID-19.
Let us live in such a way during the COVID-19 pandemic that we can look back on this time and say that we grew better as humans and as children of God, and that we encouraged others to grow as well.
Let us be like Joseph who clung tightly to hope in God, knowing that whatever happens, HE IS GOOD, and works for our good! Let each of us be the avenue by which God works good in the lives of others.