Beauty Out of Brokenness

READ: GENESIS 37:1-36; 45:1-15; 50:15-21

Do you wish parts of your life were different? Perhaps a broken relationship, a shattered home, a selfish decision, or a misguided choice. Pieces that seem too jagged and broken to fit together into anything remotely beautiful. Ever since sin entered our world, we all have brokenness in our lives. But God can work through our stories—just as He did through Joseph’s.

In Genesis 37, we see how Joseph’s own brothers sold him into slavery. They were filled with jealousy because of their father’s wrongful favoritism of Joseph, and their anger was stirred up by Joseph’s sinful pride. One day they attacked him, throwing him into a pit and then sending him to faraway Egypt. Joseph was forced to leave behind his home and his father, Jacob, who grieved for the son he thought had been killed.

Joseph’s life in Egypt was hard. Yet “the LORD was with him and…gave him success in everything he did” (Genesis 39:3). Joseph was eventually put in charge of his Egyptian master’s entire household, but then he was wrongfully accused of a crime he didn’t commit and thrown into prison. However, through the hand of the Lord, he went from the dungeon to being second-in-command over all of Egypt. God worked through Joseph to save the people of Egypt and surrounding lands from a devastating famine. When his brothers came to Egypt, desperate for food for themselves and their families, Joseph recognized them and was filled with emotion. After testing them, he revealed his true identity to his brothers and they were tearfully reunited.

Though Joseph’s life was full of pain and heartache, God used the mistakes and sins of Joseph and his family to bring about His own good purposes (Genesis 50:20). Israel was saved from starvation. And generations later, God fulfilled His promise to bring a Savior, Jesus Christ, through their family. God can take the most broken parts of our lives and make them beautiful. • Julia Faith Steward

• Though it’s easy for us to focus on how our situations look in the present, God sees the bigger picture. He is working all things together for good. How could this truth give us hope?

• Joseph and his family were real people with real emotions. Joseph felt the pain that resulted from being betrayed by his brothers, who were supposed to love and protect him. When they were reunited, he sobbed so loudly that all of Pharaoh’s household heard him. How could it be encouraging to know that the people in the Bible dealt with brokenness and pain just like us?

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)