Part 7

Hello ,

Genesis 50:20 — You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done…

There’s a kind of waiting that feels delayed… and then there’s the kind that feels wrong.

Joseph didn’t just wait—he was betrayed by his own family, sold, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison. And through all of it, the promise over his life didn’t disappear—but it didn’t make sense either.

Because when you’re walking through something unjust, waiting takes on a different weight.

It’s not just, “When will this happen?”
It becomes, “Why is this happening at all?”

A man once worked with integrity for years, building trust, showing up, doing things the right way. Then, almost overnight, he was pushed out—misrepresented, overlooked, replaced. And what made it harder wasn’t just the loss—it was the feeling that it shouldn’t have happened that way. It didn’t fit the narrative of how things were supposed to go.

That’s the tension Joseph lived in.

Nothing about his path looked like progress.

A pit doesn’t look like purpose.
A prison doesn’t look like promotion.
Being forgotten doesn’t look like fulfillment.

And yet… none of it was wasted.

Joseph didn’t see the full picture while he was in it. He didn’t know how the pieces would connect. But later—much later—he could look back and recognize something that would have been impossible to see in the moment:

God wasn’t absent in the delay.
He was working through what felt wrong.

That’s one of the hardest truths about waiting on the Lord.

Sometimes it includes experiences that feel completely out of alignment with what you believe God is doing. Situations that don’t seem fair. Seasons that don’t seem necessary.

But waiting, in this form, is not just about patience—it’s about trusting that God can integrate even the parts you wouldn’t have chosen.

Joseph didn’t minimize what happened. He didn’t call it good. He named it clearly: “You intended harm.”

But he also refused to let that be the final interpretation.

Because over time, what was meant for harm became part of something that preserved life—not just his, but many others.

Waiting on the Lord doesn’t always feel peaceful. Sometimes it feels like holding steady in the middle of something you don’t understand.

But this is what Joseph shows us:

God’s ability to work is not limited by the path you’re on—even when that path includes injustice.

Nothing is wasted.

Not the delay.
Not the confusion.
Not even what felt wrong.

Musical Reflection: Be Thou My Vision

Have a great day and God bless!

Pastor Mike / The Open Word