From the new series: When You Think You’ve Lost Everything
Remember that God is Still in Control
Trudging along the international highway, the young man tried to make sense of what was happening to him. Things were so confusing. It was as if he were living someone else’s life.
“What did I do to deserve this?” he wondered.
But the only answer was the heavy clanking of his chains as he shuffled along step by step. He had been sold to the Midianite slave traders who rode along on camels in front of him.[1] If his father were aware of what was happening, he knew that he would be rescued. But his father didn’t know. And that was the hardest part of all. He had been abused and sold into slavery by his own brothers. He had dreamed of better things, but his own flesh and blood hated him because of his dreams.[2]
His brothers had tied him up and placed him in a deep pit near the village of Dothan. Then, when they saw the Midianite caravan, they made the spur of the moment decision to get rid of their captive by selling him into slavery. Hobbled by his chains, it seemed to him that all was lost. This young man, named Joseph, helps to remind you what to do when you think you’ve lost everything: continue to trust in God’s control.
Joseph had been taught this lesson by his father, Jacob. On one occasion, his father had testified to the entire family: “[God] answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.”[3] Plodding along, the seventeen-year-old young remembered what his father had said, and he believed that it applied to him too. He could call upon the God who answers His people in their distress. It is comforting to know that the God who is in control is with you – even when you think you’ve lost everything.
The 105th Psalm provides a remarkable perspective on what this young man endured:
“Moreover [the Lord] called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them— Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons.”[4]
Looking back on this situation, where would you find hope? Joseph was shuffling along the Via Maris (the Way of the Sea), going to Egypt, leaving his homeland behind. And according to the psalmist, a famine was on the way! What is a famine? It is a crisis so severe that the some people in a region die from hunger each day. In a famine, food – daily nutrition – is so sparse that finding it becomes the focus for each day. So whether you find yourself hated and abandoned by your own flesh and blood, or facing a devastating famine, the answer is still the same. When you think that you’ve lost everything, remember that God is in control.
In fact, the Lord is in control, whether you believe in Him or not. Rest assured that He will accomplish His purpose for you, even if you are enslaved. One man wrote about his experiences as a slave in 1746:
“My headstrong passions and follies plunged me, in early life, into a succession of difficulties and hardships, which, at length, reduced me to seek a refuge among the natives of Africa. There, for about the space of eighteen months, I was in effect, though without the name, a captive and a slave myself; and was depressed to the lowest degree of human wretchedness.”[5]
This man was not like Joseph, who was trusting in the Lord. No, this man testified that his evil passions and poor choices put him into slavery. And at the time it looked as if he had lost everything. But he would learn that God was still in control.
He wrote, “…the good providence of God, without my expectation, and almost against my will, delivered me from those scenes of wickedness and woe; and I arrived at Liverpool in May 1748.”[6]
Who wrote these words? This is the testimony of John Newton who would later write the words to the hymn, Amazing Grace. John Newton, like Joseph before him, learned that he could trust God’s providential control.
The psalmist described God’s control over Joseph’s situation: “He sent a man before them— Joseph—who was sold as a slave…” At first glance, this is puzzling. Did God send him, or was he sold as a slave? Which was it? It was both. God who rules over all provides for His own and prepares them for the future. God was there when Joseph was sold into slavery. God chose that means to send Joseph ahead to prepare for the coming famine. So even though Joseph seemed to have lost everything, he hadn’t lost the Lord.
Even when you are in pain and experiencing depression, remember that God is in control. The psalmist described Joseph’s situation with painful clarity: “They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons.” Scholars point out that this description includes physical pain as well as depression. It was as if the iron of his shackles pressed into his soul. But even in those desperate circumstances, Joseph continued to trust the Lord.
When you think you’ve lost everything, it’s important to remember that God is still in control. Even when you suffer at the hands of your own flesh and blood, you are bound in slavery or you face a bitter famine, remember that God is still ruling over all.
[1] Genesis 37:28
[2] Genesis 37:8, 19-20
[3] Genesis 35:3
[4] Psalm 105:16-18
[5] John Newton, Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade, London: Printed for J. Buckland and J. Johnson, 1792. Accessed at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/68056/pg68056-images.html
[6] Ibid.
2023 copyright Gordon A. Dickson, all rights reserved. LiveServeLead.com
Author of
“12 Ways You Can Make a Difference in This Crazy, Mixed-up World”