Seeing the big picture

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Genesis 45:8
The story of how Joseph was reunited with his brothers is one of my favourites in the Bible. The famine that had struck Egypt, as shown to Pharaoh in his dreams, which Joseph interpreted, was also affecting the land of Canaan. Jacob sends ten of his sons to Egypt to buy food. Joseph recognises them instantly, but they don’t recognise him. He sets a series of tests – putting the silver back in their sack, taking Simeon away and imprisoning him, and demanding that they bring their youngest brother to him (Benjamin, who of course was Jacob’s full brother, them both being sons of Rachel). Finally, when Joseph knows that their attitude has changed towards how their father expressed favouritism towards one son (himself, and then Benjamin), he reveals to them who he really is. They are in shock – and who wouldn’t be. Here was their brother, whom they had sold as a slave. What would he do to them now?
But Joseph had forgiven them in his heart long before this moment. He was not going to take revenge on them for what they did (and he had to reassure them of this fact on several occasions, see Gen. 50:15-21). How was he able to do this? Because he had seen the bigger picture. He saw God’s plan in the situation. God needed to get him to Egypt somehow, before the famine struck. God needed to get him in a place where he would be noticed by Pharaoh. And God also needed to humble him, so that he could become great. That’s what the slavery and imprisonment were all about.
There’s a powerful lesson here for us today. It’s easy for us to focus on our immediate situation, and forget to look at the big picture of what God is working out. It’s easy for us to despise the small things – the seemingly insignificant tasks we are given to do – but we shouldn’t (Zech. 4:10). And we need to remember that in all things, God is working for good (Rom. 8:28). That’s what He did with Joseph, and that’s what He will do for us too. Life is not a sequence of random events – God is in control of everything that happens to us.