Hope

Hope

We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 33:20-22, NIV

Have you ever waited for something very important? For a parent to know Christ? For a child to complete cancer treatments? For a husband who has strayed from God’s truth to return? Waiting is difficult. The Old Testament character Joseph spent a fair amount of his life waiting. I’ve often wondered what his life was like—first in the dry well where his brothers dumped him before they sold him to Ishmaelite traders, and then as he waited again before he arrived in Egypt and was sold to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials. But the Bible tells us that God was with Joseph and that Joseph experienced success in all that he did.

Even when he was falsely accused and sent to prison, Joseph knew God showed him extra kindness through the prison warden. After two more years of waiting, Joseph was not only called out of prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, but he was put in charge of Pharaoh’s palace and ultimately the whole land of Egypt. Joseph was eventually reunited with his family in a miraculous way that only God could have arranged! (Read more of Joseph’s story in Genesis 37, 39–45.)

Was Joseph waiting on his brothers? The Ishmaelites? Potiphar? Yes, but he was also waiting on God. The influence and even forgetfulness of some of those individuals was all part of God’s larger plan for the world. Are you experiencing a time of waiting in your life? Remember, we’re not only waiting on people or a process—we’re waiting on God.

God who sees and provides,

Waiting sometimes feels hopeless and pointless. But we find encouragement in seeing your faithfulness to other people who waited on you. May we experience your unfailing love as we put our hope in you. Amen.