Look Back To Look Forward

God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive. . . . So it was God who sent me here, not you! Genesis 45:7-8

Joseph had finally revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were justifiably afraid that he would retaliate for their selling him into slavery.

Joseph, however, had a well-developed sense of historical perspective and knew that his current ability to help them resulted from their actions taken many years before.

If you want to know what will happen tomorrow, pay attention to what occurred yesterday—especially the events that looked bad at the time.

You may want to draw a quick map of the major events in your organization’s history, showing how each significant step was built on something that came before it.

Your ability to put current events into future perspective will become more acute as you learn to see how events of the past are woven together by a common thread.