Joseph's Planner

I like to plan. I like to know what's going on, what's coming up. Since graduating high school, my planner has been an especially close friend. To-do lists, homework due dates, work schedules, family gatherings.  . all of it (or mostly all of it) can be found recorded in my little planner. As my friend Samantha once said, "Don't ever forget your planner. It has everything in it!"

But sometimes - actually, often times - things don't go as we plan. Not much gets crossed off that to-do list, or plans to get together with friends or family don't work out. Although it may not be the end of the world if some of our plans don't come to fruition, there are times when tears can be shed and frustrations abound when something we plan on falls through. 

I couldn't help thinking of this desire to plan when reading through the life story of Joseph a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty sure that if Joseph had plans for his life in mind, they definitely did not include what really happened. Being thrown into a pit by his older brothers and then later sold by those brothers to some Ishmaelites. Sold into slavery in Egypt. Thrown into prison on the basis of false charges. And then, made second in power and rule over all of Egypt; lower only than Pharaoh himself. (This is a rather short, very incomplete summary. For a full version of the story of Joseph, check out Genesis 37-50. You'll be glad you did.)

Yet, all this hardship was orchestrated by the Lord. He knew every injustice done unto Joseph, heard every cry  Joseph may have offered for justice and mercy. When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, he says to them: 

"'Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God. . .'" (Genesis 45:5-8)

What better example than Joseph do we have of the LORD's declaration in Isaiah 55:10-11?

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'"

So, next time things don't go exactly as you planned - no matter the magnitude or importance of the event - think about Joseph. Think of how the LORD used what may have appeared as awful, unfair and cruel circumstances for His greater glory and good. Cling to the promise that He has better things prepared than we could ever ask or imagine. And then, wait patiently upon Him to bring about His perfect result.